business@tribunemedia.net
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
$ 6.85
$ 7.20
$ 6.85
Taxpayers forecast to pay $50m on controversial PPP BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN taxpayers are scheduled to pay more than $50m for the Government’s Eight Mile Rock administrative complex, built by a contractor and developer linked to the general election day plane crash drug suspect, due to a 48.8 percent surge in costs and a near-$17m interest bill. Documents obtained by Tribune Business reveal that the price tag for the project, constructed by Top Notch Builders and its wholly-owned development vehicle, PPP Investments & Construction Company, ballooned from the $22.81m stipulated in the original deal - signed just one day before the 2017 general election - to $33.93m for a jump of more than $11m. And, besides the almost-50 percent surge in construction costs that the Bahamian people now have to pay
All-in price tag jumped $16m or 48.5%, papers reveal
Near-$17m interest due to firms linked to drug suspect
back via the Government’s leaseto-own arrangement, the papers also reveal that taxpayers are scheduled to fork out a further $16.678m in “interest” payments over what is forecast to be a ten-year period. Combined, the lease and interest payments take the Eight Mile Rock complex’s total cost to the public to $50.608m. The total price tag, and increase in lease and interest payments to PPP Investments & Construction Company and Top Notch, are revealed by comparing the original 2017 deal with documents filed with the Supreme Court at end-March 2026. The 2017
Leno bond hit less than 1/3 of target; Gov’t pays in-full
version pegged the total cost to Bahamian taxpayers at $22.81m in lease payments and $11.279m in interest outlay for an all-in price tag of $34.089m, meaning that the latter has now risen by more than $16m or 48.5 percent increase. This newspaper previously revealed how Jonathan Gardiner, who is now in custody after being charged with involvement in a long-running conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the US, confirmed in a sworn affidavit that he was Top Notch’s president and director on February 13, 2017 - just months
CONSTRUCT - See Page B3
Pearl Island seeks dismissal of tourist’s leg-loss lawsuit BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net GOWON BOWE
KWASI THOMPSON
‘Phenomenal’ job creation if economy expanded 3.8% BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas would have seen “a phenomenal amount of jobs” created with the economy growing by almost 4 percent in real terms during 2025, a senior banker has suggested. Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune Business he was not “discrediting or suggesting that the numbers are inaccurate” following Friday’s advance gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimates unveiled by the Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) but, rather, questioning whether they were comparing “like-for-like” in terms of measurement methodologies used and the amount of economic data capture. He spoke out after the Institute unveiled GDP, or economic output, growth estimates for 2025 that were up to a percentage point higher than those provided by both Central Bank governor, John Rolle, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
EMPLOY - See Page B5
A BAHAMIAN excursion destination and boat operator are both urging dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a US tourist over the loss of both her legs to a vessel’s propeller after staff allegedly told her to jump into the sea to urinate after being “plied with unsafe amounts of alcohol” and drugs. Pearl Island Investment Management Group, which operates the cruise passenger and tourism destination located off New Providence’s north-east coast, and Sun Cay Ltd are arguing that the south Florida
‘Brutally honest’ Budget needed to shift trajectory BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas “is fiscally improving but structurally under-powered” as it enters tomorrow’s Budget, a well-known financial commentator is asserting, as he called for a revision to the 50 percent-debt-toGDP target’s timing and the start of an “honest conversation” about taxation. Hubert Edwards, writing on his LinkedIn page, said that - despite the first Davis administration’s
federal court should dismiss the claim by Hannah Smith - which has attracted significant international media attention - on the basis that it has no jurisdiction over them since they have no relevant ties or connections to the state. Ms Smith, in her amended claim filed on March 11, 2026, is alleging that Pearl Island “bartenders” also supplied and “encouraged” the use of marijuana while she and her friends were visiting on May 12, 2025, after arriving in Nassau on board the Carnival Celebration cruise ship. And she is also alleging that her drink was spiked with a
INJURY - See Page B7 progress towards eliminating the annual deficit and other forms of fiscal consolidation - the Bahamas needs to generate greater, HUBERT EDWARDS sustained momentum from achieving higher annual economic growth rates than the 1.6 percent long-run average forecast by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Hailing the Government’s energy reforms as the potential “master variable” for realising greater gross
RELEASE - See Page B6
$ 6.95
$ 6.65
Ex-ambassador’s 20-year ban over ‘misappropriation’ BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas’ former ambassador to Bahrain has been banned from holding any meaningful post in this nation’s financial services industry for 20 years after confessing that he “misappropriated significant client funds”. The Securities Commission, unveiling its May 21, 2026, “prohibition order” against Taran Mackey, determined that he is not “fit and proper” to serve in any financial services post requiring the regulator’s prior approval after he agreed late last year to repay monies taken from clients of his now-former employer, IPG Family Office. The capital markets, investment funds and digital assets supervisor added that Mr Mackey, who also resigned from his position as a government-appointed director at BISX-listed Bank of the Bahamas after agreeing the repayment deal with IPG, did not deny the misappropriation claims levied against him and only challenged the sum said to have been involved. Christina Rolle, the Securities Commission’s executive director, declined to comment on the matter when contacted by Tribune
TARAN MACKEY
Admitted to taking ‘significant client funds’ Commission passes probe details to police Ex-IPG, BOB director is not ‘fit and proper’ Business other than to disclose the regulator has handed over all information obtained during its investigation into Mr Mackey to the Royal Bahamas Police Force. “Whatever information the Government has in its possession, we’ve handed it over to the police,” she told this newspaper.
INVESTIGATE - See Page B4