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Gov’t urged: ‘Stand with Sarkis’ after appeal win By NEIL HARTNELL t &Y #BIB .BS Tribune Business Editor EJSFDUPS UFMMT nhartnell@tribunemedia.net $$" A%P A FORMER Baha Mar director yesterday urged the GovIPOPVSBCMF ernment “to stand on the side of UIJOH the person that is right” while demanding the project’s contract "SHVFT JO tor “do the honourable thing” and pay Sarkis Izmirlian some $1.7bn. #BIBNBT Dionisio D’Aguilar, who sat JOUFSFTU UP TJEF on the project’s Board under the original developer prior to its XJUI QBSUZ ill-fated Chapter 11 bankruptcy AJO SJHIU protection filing, told Tribune Business that China Construction t 4VHHFTUT America (CCA) and its affiliates #FJKJOH T ADPGGFST should bring “this whole sad process” dating back almost ten years GVOE CO to an end rather than mount a EBNBHFT BXBSE fresh legal appeal.
Speaking after newspaper that the the New York State Davis administration Supreme Court’s needs to side with the appeals division party that has been “unanimously disproven right in mulmissed” the Chinese tiple court verdicts. state-owned contracHe argued that it was tor’s bid to overturn “not advisable”, and the initial verdict that “not in the best interawarded Mr Izmirlian ests of the country”, some $1.642bn, after for the Government finding sufficient to seemingly conevidence it had per- DIONISIO D’AGUILAR tinue siding with petrated a fraud and CCA. breach of contract Suggesting that that caused the initial Baha Mar CCA’s US affiliate, one of three project to collapse, he suggested entities held liable to pay a damthat Beijing’s “coffers” should be ages award now estimated by tapped to finance the payout. Mr Izmirlian himself to have And, asserting that yesterday’s increased to $1.7bn, will likely appeals ruling has “100 percent “sit behind” its Chapter 11 bankvindicated” Baha Mar’s original ruptcy protection in New Jersey, developer, Mr D’Aguilar told this Mr D’Aguilar said: “In this whole,
Sarkis to CCA: ‘Come to your senses’ over $1.7bn damages By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHA Mar’s original developer is pleading with the project’s Chinese contractor to “come to their senses” and quickly settle the now $1.7bn damages award that was yesterday fully upheld by a New York appeals court. However, despite suffering the latest in a series of multiple legal reversals, the three China Construction America (CCA) affiliates held responsible for committing fraud and breach of contract against Sarkis Izmirlian pledged that yesterday’s verdict “is not the last word on this matter” given that they plan to
pursue a further appeal in the New York legal system. Both sides hit out after the New York State Supreme Court’s appeals division, first judicial department, yesterday “unanimously dismissed” CCA’s appeal against Justice Andrew Borrok’s original verdict that found the Chinese state-owned contractor had perpetrated “an absolute sham and shakedown” on Mr Izmirlian by supplying “phony” completion dates for the then-$2.5bn Baha Mar resort complex. The four New York appeal judges, in a short five-page verdict, completely shredded CCA’s challenge to Justice Borrok’s findings by ruling there was “no basis to
THE Bahamas’ upgraded
‘positive’ outlook from Moody’s “creates a sound platform... for deeper reforms” and a potential buffer against global
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$183m GB roadworks tale ‘doesn’t cut the mustard’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BAHA MAR RESORT
t #VU $$" EFmBOU "QQFBM MPTT AOPU UIF MBTU XPSE t #BIB .BS DPOUSBDUPS VSHFE UP TFUUMF BGUFS SFWFSTF t /FX :PSL DPVSU AVOBOJNPVTMZ EJTNJTTFE DIBMMFOHF disturb” the latter’s damages award to Mr Izmirlian. They also rejected the contractor’s assertion that it was wrongly held liable for fraud, finding that CCA’s internal documents showed it did not believe
the target March 27, 2015, opening date could be achieved - the direct opposite of what it was telling Mr Izmirlian to his face. CCA’s “misrepresenting
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Moody’s upgrade creates ‘deeper reforms platform’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
sad process, CCA has been found guilty of fraud and breach of contract. “Mr Izmirlian has won in the lower courts, he has now won on appeal, and CCA should now settle. It’s a state-owned company. It’s owned by the People’s Republic of China, and it should pay. It’s a government that owns that company, they broke the law and, when you break the law, they should pay. They should go into the coffers of the People’s Republic of China and settle and pay out at least.” The three CCA affiliates, which also include two Bahamian-domiciled entities, CCA (Bahamas) and CSCEC (Bahamas), struck a defiant tone following yesterday’s
economic turmoil, a financial analyst argued yesterday. Hubert Edwards, principal of Next Level Solutions, told Tribune Business that given the potential for an improvement in the country’s creditworthiness within the next six to 12 months it needs to focus on enhancing competitiveness and reducing the subsidy drag caused by loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such as the Water & Sewerage Corporation.
Backing the Davis administration’s energy reform drive, and called for “more effective and efficient” public spending by the Government, he described The Bahamas’ debt - especially its high cost and affordability as “a big soft spot” that needs to be addressed. However, Mr Edwards also told this newspaper that planned reforms to the Bahamian dollar debt and bond market “bode well”, and said Moody’s
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THE Government’s explanation for why the Prime Minister intervened to place a $183m west Grand Bahama roadworks contract on hold “doesn’t cut the mustard”, the Opposition’s chairman argued yesterday. Dr Duane Sands, speaking out after the Government confirmed a controversial contract destined for Bahamas Striping was never awarded or approved, told Tribune Business that “the story doesn’t add up” given that the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) private sector financing arm was due to discuss at Board level providing $22m in financing for the project on April 29, 2025. The Prime Minister’s Office, in a statement issued yesterday, asserted that the contract’s inclusion in a list of government procurement deals awarded in December 2024 was an “administrative error” because it had neither been awarded nor approved. Instead, the award to Abaco Caribbean Holdings, a Bahamas Striping group subsidiary, had already been “paused by the Prime Minister” prior to the list’s publication. In a somewhat opaque explanation of events, which included no names, the Prime Minister’s Office said there remains “an urgent need for public works in Grand Bahama” which the roadworks
DR DUANE SANDS contract was seemingly designed to help address. However, the procurement list identified it as a “direct award”, meaning it never went out to tender or was subject to competitive bidding where multiple firms submitted offers. “An international financial organisation (IDB Invest) had settled a prequalification amount with a particular vendor (Bahamas Striping/Abaco Caribbean Holdings), and the matter proceeded from there toward a conclusion,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. “Upon this being brought to the Prime Minister’s attention, he instructed that the matter be set aside for further review. Unfortunately, that instruction was not reflected in the list that was subsequently published, which has led to regrettable confusion. “The model of the vendor in question is that of a project manager. As such, the allocated funding would not have gone to a single contractor but rather to several contractors operating in
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Foreign artist levy goal for ‘Band Aid’ financing By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net AN entertainers’ union is proposing that a portion of the levies collected by the Government from foreign artists be used to finance its ‘Band Aid’ initiative to assist Bahamian performers with health needs. The United Artists Bahamas Union (UABU) said it will make the suggestion to the Government
with the Band Aid plan set to roll-out after the union’s elections in May. It added that the proposal has gained fresh impetus from the recent passing of Elon Moxey. Asserting that the plan will act as a “safety net”, Linc Scavella, the secretary-general, told Tribune Business that from its inception and breakaway from the Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers Union, the UABU planned to create a way for funds
to be collected and put towards Bahamian artists’ medical expenses. Open to all musicians and entertainers, whether part of the UABU or not, Mr Scavella added that the funding for the Band Aid initiative will also come from two major annual events. “We’re going to do two events a year,” Mr Scavella said. “The musicians and entertainers are going to participate themselves. So they’re going to raise the money using their
talent. That’s why it’s not relegated just to UABU members. “It could be members, even who are not in the union, who will benefit. We’re going to get a reputable group to manage those funds. And so we got to do something like an annual ball and what you would call a fair - pretty much like what the Red Cross does. “I think once our elections are completed in May, around the first part of
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