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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2025
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Bahamas graft improvement must match ‘story on street’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• Nation now equal with US on perceived corruption • US: Bahamian judges ‘reluctant’ on financial crime • Makes claim over $1.4bn case involving Venezuela
GOVERNANCE reformers yesterday said The Bahamas’ improved ranking and score from Transparency International must match “the story on the street” for this nation to beat long-standing corruption concerns. Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), told Tribune Business this nation’s improvement from 30th to 28th place in the annual Corruption Perceptions Index - while seemingly representing global recognition of The Bahamas’ efforts to combat graft - must
Investigations Bill ‘doesn’t fully address’ corruption’s causes By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net GOVERNANCE reformers have asserted that legislation to create an Independent Investigations Commission “does not fully address” the root causes of corruption while whistleblower protections must be strengthened. The Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), unveiling its analysis of the Independent Commission of Investigations Bill 2025, which is designed to combat and punish graft committed by politicians, public officials and members of the security forces, said that while it represents an upgrade on the earlier 2024 version there is still room for further improvement. In particular, it called for better protection and safeguards for “external”
whistleblowers who are not within the Government’s employment while also suggesting that there be better access to the Commission’s reports and findings than simply tabling these in Parliament. ORG also called for the Commission’s annual financial budget to be approved by Parliament, rather than the minister of finance, as this would “support a more transparent process” that dispels any perception or notion of political interference with its work and investigations. And it urged greater civil society and public input into the Commission’s work, while also calling for the Bill to be revised so that it mandates all government agencies “monitor actions” based on the findings of investigations and produce a report 12 months later detailing the status of
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align with the actual experience of Bahamian businesses and citizens on the ground. Speaking after Transparency International also increased The Bahamas’ score by one to 65, so that this nation now ranks alongside the US, he added that this nation must “set its own course” in an increasingly turbulent world by pulling together all the Government, private sector and civil society initiatives, including legislative reforms, into a single co-ordinated “framework” to attack corruption in all its forms. “That definitely is a good thing to here,” Mr Aubry told this newspaper of The Bahamas’ upgrade by Transparency
International. “We’ve been talking about the concept of putting together a cross-section approach and, when we put all that framework down, we see a lot of things are happening.... “The Transparency International index is a good indicator but is not really telling the story on the street. We want to make sure the story on paper matches the story in the communities. We’re hoping this is an opportunity for Bahamians to understand how it’s being seen internationally but also tells a story about how to get where we want to be.” Mr Aubry argued that ordinary Bahamians, as well as the private sector, need to feel the impact of
MATT AUBRY anti-corruption reforms through the provision of opportunities that are awarded on the basis of merit and best person or company for the job rather than through a “pay to play” culture or political affiliations. The Bahamas’ improvement, albeit modest, in Transparency International’s index means that the level of perceived corruption now matches that of the US given the latter’s significant year-overyear fall. Only Barbados, out of
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Property declarations ‘just killed the ease of business’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN financial services provider yesterday branded the demand to disclose all corporate clients’ real estate dealings by week’s end as “outrageous”, adding: “They have just killed ease of doing business.” Paul Moss, Dominion Management Services’ principal, voiced doubts to Tribune Business that his firm will meet the February 15 deadline for filing the 16-page ‘real property declaration’ on behalf of its 100-plus clients as he blasted MPs for changing laws without seemingly understanding “the pain and suffering” it will cause to the private
• Financial provider slams latest burden as ‘outrageous’ • Argues: ‘Feels like you’re in business to work for Gov’t’ • And politicians don’t understand the ‘pain and suffering’ sector and The Bahamas’ competitiveness. Asserting that it increasingly appears as if entrepreneurs “are in business to work for the Government”, given the ever-increasing taxation and compliance burden they face, he echoed the concerns of other registered offices and agents that they simply do not have on-hand access to all the information being
sought by the Department of Inland Revenue. The Government reformed the VAT Act in the 2024-2025 Budget to require all registered offices and agents to supply, on behalf of all their Companies Act and International Business Companies (IBCs) Act clients, details on all their Bahamas-based real estate holdings, plus every property transaction these
PAUL MOSS entities had entered to and completed over the past year. Mr Moss, though, told this newspaper this has “placed the onus on registered agents to verify” the accuracy of information they do not necessarily possess as it is instead held by their clients. This, he warned, could reach the point where registered agents “perjure” themselves if a declaration proves inaccurate, while this expansion of their duties is not supported by their governing law, the Companies Act.
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Bahamian firm suffers four supplier price hikes in year By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net INFLATION and a “construction surge” have helped to expand The Bahamas’ now-$4.274bn annual trade deficit, it was argued yesterday, with one local firm suffering four prices increase from its supplier within a year. Dr Leo Rolle, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, in an e-mailed reply to Tribune
DR LEO ROLLE Business questions on behalf of the private sector advocacy group, said narrowing this record deficit
“will be difficult, but not impossible” even though this nation produces very few physical goods for export. “We note with concern the country’s ever-increasing trade deficit, reaching a record high of $4.2bn in 2024,” he wrote. “We are keen to continue to work with the Government, local manufacturers, importers and our members/stakeholders to narrow and reduce this. “We are a heavily import-reliant country with minimal local production,
exacerbated by recent inflationary pressures locally and internationally, so decreasing this deficit will be difficult but not impossible.” Tribune Business reported yesterday that the trade deficit - which measures by how much physical goods imported to the country exceed this nation’s exports - broke through the $4bn mark for the first time last year. This represents a 22.6 percent, or close to $750m
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Tax-driven airline prices hit Bahamas’ advantage By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net A SENIOR tourism executive yesterday asserted that high airline ticket prices have prevented The Bahamas from fully capitalising on its proximity to the US as
its main tourism source market. Kerry Fountain, the Bahamas Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, speaking at the Routes Americas conference, said the high taxes imposed on airline tickets can be offset by the funds visitors spend while traversing the country. And
the number of stopover visitors can be increased if ticket taxes were reduced. “Every time we start off with a business plan, a tourism business plan or tourism marketing plan for The Bahamas, and we’re doing a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis, and we talk about the strengths of
The Bahamas, we always start off with proximity. Bimini is 52 miles away from South Florida. But what we failed to do is to convert our proximity into affordability, and that is due to taxes,” said Mr Fountain.
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