business@tribunemedia.net
MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2023
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Rejected Ginn buyer settles COVID fraud By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE GOVERNMENT has rejected a US hotel group, which last week agreed to pay $325,000 in sanctions to settle COVID fraud allegations, as a buyer of the 2,012 acre former Ginn development in Grand Bahama’s West End. Kingwood International Resorts, which has been pursuing a multi-year effort to obtain Bahamian government approval to acquire the project, had been accused by the US Justice Department of “knowingly providing false information” to secure pandemic-related financial assistance via a scheme involving “ghost” employees that was designed to “personally benefit” its principals. The disclosures, and related fines and penalties, provide further justification for the Davis administration’s repeated rejections of Kingwood as a suitable purchaser for such a large and potentially valuable tract of resort development
real estate. Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister, and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, did not respond to Tribune Business messages seeking updates on the status of Kingwood’s bid for the necessary approvals. However, one well-placed source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told this newspaper simply and emphatically: “The Government has refused the application of the Kingwood group.” THE LIGHTHOUSE concept - Reunion Cay
FNM chair: VAT health claims change ‘insane’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE FNM’S chairman yesterday branded the proposal to change the VAT treatment of health insurance claims as “absurd, insane and inane”, warning that it will “destroy” the medical sector if implemented as originally planned. Dr Duane Sands, himself a physician, told Tribune Business that the Government’s proposal which would halt insurance companies reclaiming VAT on health insurance claims payouts by treating it as an
DR DUANE SANDS ‘input’ cost - “flies in the face of everything we have been trying to accomplish over the past ten years”. The Davis administration has deferred the change, which many
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Gov’t ‘not just dictating’ over work permit policy By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Chamber of Commerce’s labour division chair has hailed that the Government is “not just dictating” over plans to develop a national policy to govern the issuance of work permits in The Bahamas. Peter Goudie, also a member of the National Tripartite Council, the body former to tackle all labour-related issues in The Bahamas, told Tribune Business that the Government appears open to a genuine dialogue with the private sector, trade unions and other stakeholders on the issue instead of
PETER GOUDIE simply saying ‘this is what will happen’. “I think it’s great we’re having this dialogue, and it’s not just the Government dictating,” he said. “That’s all we’ve ever had. Government says, and on the follow through do whatever. Now
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Businessman loses $22m RBC lawsuit • Over sand mining investment by Slovak he had never met By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• To pay $325,000 over ‘ghost employees’ scheme • But still in charge of key West End project entities • Was planning to sell real estate at ‘inflated values’
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A BAHAMIAN businessman has lost his breach of contract claim against Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) after it refused to clear a $22.11m investment in his aragonite export venture by a Slovakian citizen he had never met. Justice Diane Stewart, in a March 24 verdict, ruled that the Canadian-owned bank was fully justified in refusing to process the transfers to Larry A. Ferguson’s merchant account because the Visa card company rejected the transactions on the basis they exceeded the cardholder’s agreed limit. She also found the account was “not being used for the purpose” for which it was established, given that it was supposed to facilitate a vacation rental home business, and the balance had never previously exceeded $16,000, while the investment by a
foreigner had not received Central Bank and other necessary government approvals. The judgment reveals that Mr Ferguson initiated legal action in November 2016 after RBC refused to honour a series of payments made to his account by Boris Plavala, a Slovak citizens, and reversed the transactions after they were “flagged as suspicious and fraudulent”. The payments were made by a series of 21 transactions, each worth $990,000, made to Mr Ferguson’s merchant account which was in the name of his vacation rental business, Coastal Winds. Another payment was also received for $168,000, and another $990,000 was transferred to a separate account in the name of Store Away Ltd, an entity in which Mr Ferguson was also a shareholder. “The plaintiff claimed that the transfer was to have represented a
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