business@tribunemedia.net
THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2025
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CHESTER COOPER
BOB COUGHLIN
‘Never in a million years’: Resort, advisers deny link to DPM smear By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net AN EXUMA resort developer and its advisers yesterday denied any involvement with videos that the Deputy Prime Minister asserted have defamed him and plan to file police complaints themselves. Bob Coughlin, the Turtlegrass Resort & Island Club developer, in a statement said he had no participation in, or connection, to the videos despite Chester Cooper, minister of tourism, investments and aviation, naming him as the person responsible for their creation and release. And Diane Phillips, of Diane Phillips & Associates, the public relations adviser to Mr Coughlin and Turtlegrass, told Tribune Business that she and her firm would “never in a million years be part” of any attempt to smear Cabinet minsters or any individuals. Stating that the videos identified by Mr Cooper, one of which has been viewed by this newspaper, appear to have been manipulated to “track back” to her company and make it appear that it was involved in their commissioning and production, she said she now plans to join the deputy prime minister in filing her own complaint with the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s cyber crimes unit. Mr Coughlin, who is developing an eco-tourism resort on Big Sampson Cay, Exuma, has threatened to halt the project unless environmental concerns surrounding the neighbouring $200m Rosewood-branded resort, proposed
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‘We’ll change hotel locks’ if Labour delays further By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Old Bahama Bay resort’s management takeover was yesterday said to be “in a holding pattern” amid calls for ministerial intervention to resolve the labour-related issues causing delay. Michael Scott KC, attorney for LRA-OBB and Resorts Holdings, the hotel’s two corporate owners, in an April 1, 2025, letter urged Pia GloverRolle, minister of labour and the public service, to step in because Department of Labour officials in Grand Bahama were allegedly “exacting pressure” on his clients to assume liabilities they are not responsible for. He asserted that Old Bahama Bay’s owners, who had wanted to fully reclaim management and operational control at the property by last Friday, should not be forced to pick up the bill for staff termination pay and other benefits due
OLD BAHAMA BAY to them. These, he argued, are the responsibility of Island Ventures Resort and Club (IVRC), the management entity they are seeking to replace, as the staff are its employees. LRA-OBB and Resorts Holdings have, since March 28, been waiting on a formal written go-ahead from the
Polymers: Trump tariff ‘not going to come to’ Freeport departure By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
DONALD TRUMP
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POLYMERS International’s top executive yesterday asserted “it’s not going to come to that” when asked if the new US 10 percent tariff on Bahamian exports, plus the Chinese ship fee, could end its presence in Freeport.
Department of Labour to execute their plans for “rehiring most” of the Old Bahama Bay employees once they are terminated and released by IVRC. Mr Scott yesterday branded the unexpected hold-up as “ridiculous”, and told Tribune Business will move to “change the locks” Greg Ebelhar, the Freeportbased manufacturer’s chief operating officer, told Tribune Business that while it was still assessing the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement it has “bigger fish to fry” with the US over the proposed $1m fee per port call is is threatening to impose on Chinese-made vessels. Tropical Shipping, which has previously warned the Chinesemade ship fee threatens its very survival by potentially adding $585m in annual port-related charges, is the carrier that transports Polymers International’s expanded polystyrene (EPS) product to the US, its largest export market. Mr Ebelhar, while confirming the Chinese-made vessel port fee is presently of “more
today even if no permission is received. Urging Mrs Glover-Rolle to intervene, he wrote: “As you may be aware our clients had a bare licence agreement with IVRC in relation to the
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‘Make mining majority owned by Bahamians’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s finance spokesman yesterday urged the Government to mandate that mining and extractive industries ventures be majority-owned by Bahamians. Kwasi Thompson, the east Grand Bahama MP, told the House of Assembly during the debate on the Mining Bill 2023 that Bahamians cannot be left as “spectators, watching from the sidelines” while foreign-owned companies
generate profits from this country’s mineral resources that belong to them, “This land, this seabed, this sand—it belongs to the people of The Bahamas. The minerals beneath our soil are not assets to be bartered off in boardrooms or haphazardly handed to foreign corporations. We must change this familiar story: Foreign firms extract, export and profit while Bahamians watch from the sidelines. We must guarantee that Bahamians will be owners, not spectators, in
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Mining Bill ‘will protect’ resources for Bahamians By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Philip Davis said a new Mining Bill will ensure the protection of natural resources for Bahamians and protect the country from the “exploitative model” of mining seen in many countries. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Mr Davis said it is “crucial” the country is protected against foreign investors that seek to make a profit off our natural resources without ensuring that there is some benefit to locals.
“The natural resources of this country belong to the people. Through this Bill, we are establishing – for the first time – the right of the Bahamian public to be made fully aware of any reconnaissance, prospecting, or mining happening in our country,” said Mr Davis. “It is crucial, given our history, and given the exploitative model we see in so many places – where outsiders make profits while the people lose – that we prevent unscrupulous practices in our country. That kind of
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