business@tribunemedia.net
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
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‘Unwitting front’ resists demand over dealings with now-Minister BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BRILAND tourism operator, who alleges he was “used as an unwitting ‘front’ to deceive” both the Government and Bahamian law, is battling demands from his estranged US business partner to hand over all correspondence with the now-Cabinet Minister who served as his former attorney. Julian ‘Shaq’ Gibson, operator of the Conch & Coconut tour operator, destination management and visitor “concierge” business, is resisting attempts by Pablo Conde to force him to disclose all “communications and payments” to Darron Pickstock, the Glinton, Sweeting & O’Brien attorney who is now serving as minister of state for Immigration, as part of the legal ‘discovery’ process in their dispute before the south Florida federal court. Legal documents obtained by Tribune Business disclose that the Harbour Island-based Bahamian entrepreneur is arguing against Mr Conde’s document production bid on the basis that all dealings between himself and Mr Pickstock, as Conch & Coconut’s former local legal representative, are protected by ‘attorney-client privilege’. This keeps all such communications confidential, and exempts them from having to be disclosed publicly in court.
Briland tourism operator cites attorneyclient protection
But ex-US partner says not relevant as he’s ‘coclient’
However, Mr Conde, who controlled and oversaw the US side of Conch & Coconut’s operations before his acrimonious split with Mr Gibson, is countering that the communications with Mr Pickstock are not covered by ‘attorney-client privilege’ because he was the latter’s “co-client” alongside his former Bahamian partner. Mr Conde is alleging this is because it was himself and the US operation that originally hired, and paid for, Mr Pickstock and Glinton, Sweeting & O’Brien’s services to help defend Conch & Coconut over the company’s initial $1.2m unpaid tax arrears owed to the Department of Inland Revenue. And, following the two partners’ messy break-up, he is claiming that a compromise was reached whereby the Bahamian law firm continued to represent both himself and Mr Gibson over the tax woes. Mr Conde’s demands appear to be part of a wider ‘fishing expedition’ that is digging for incriminating evidence wherever it can be found, and
Opposition MP blasts revised revenue target BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s finance spokesman yesterday slammed the Government for the latest adjustments to its financial targets, and asserted: “The law is set to create fiscal discipline, not fiscal convenience.” Kwasi ThompKWASI THOMPSON son, the east Grand Bahama MP, hit out after the second Davis administration moved to revise downwards its revenue goals, as a percentage of Bahamian economic output or gross domestic product (GDP), for the upcoming 2026-2027 Budget period and subsequent fiscal years by lowering this ratio below the originally-targeted 25 percent. The Public Finance Management (Change of Fiscal Objectives) (Amendment of First Schedule) Order 2026, tabled in the House of Assembly alongside last week’s Budget communication, sought to justify the reduced revenue-to-GDP target ratio for 2026-2027, which has been cut from 25 percent to 23.5 percent, on the basis of “significantly higher” GDP forecasts. The Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) recently revised the advanced estimates for this nation’s 2025 GDP growth to 3.8 percent, and the expanded economic output has increased the denominator for the revenue-to-GDP ratio, making the 25 percent target harder to obtain. However, the Order also reveals that other critical factors driving the downward revision are the Government’s desire to avoid imposing new and/or increased taxes along with “limited revenue gains” from enhanced enforcement and compliance measures. In other words, the Government was unlikely to hit the 25 percent revenue-to-GDP target,
CHANGE - See Page B4
‘Limited scope’ to slash jobless rate below 9% Gov’t modelling forecasts labour productivity drop to 1.7% Report admits Gov’t revenue, deficit forecasts too optimistic Debt-to-GDP projected to plunge to 30% within next decade
Conch & Coconut chief ‘used to deceive’ Gov’t, law
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
there is nothing to suggest that Mr Pickstock has done anything wrong in relation to the Conch & Coconut saga and its ongoing legal battle. While he was a Senator when hired by the tourism operator, he did not sit in Cabinet, and will have stepped down from his role as attorney following his post-May 12 ministerial appointment. Papers filed with the south Florida federal court last week on May 28, 2026, reveal how Mr Gibson is objecting to his ex-business partner’s demand that he “describe the nature of your relationship with Bahamian politician and attorney, Darron Pickstock, including any role that you may have in directing or supervising” the latter’s work. Mr Conde, as part of document production and discovery requests, also wants disclosure of all communications with, and payments to, the Bahamian attorney. Mr Gibson, in urging the US court to reject such demands, asserted: “Mr Pickstock is [was] legal counsel to
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BUDGET reforms that expand first-time home buyer VAT relief to multi-unit dwellings were yesterday hailed as boosting “the DNA of the Bahamian market” through making ownership more affordable and accessible.
THE BAHAMAS has “limited scope” for cutting its unemployment rate below 9 percent without a major productivity boost or economic expansion, the Government’s own models and forecasts have predicted. The Fiscal Strategy Report 2026, released alongside last week’s Budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, revealed that the Government’s own financial and economic modelling framework projects that there will only be modest decreases in the present unemployment rate to around 9 percent by the 2028-2029 fiscal year with little change thereafter. This “plateau”, the report added, suggests the Bahamian economy - with a jobless rate of around 9.5
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Budget hailed for targeting ‘Bahamian housing’s DNA’ Gavin Christie, managing partner at the Corcoran C.A. Christie real estate firm, told Tribune Business that exempting first-time duplex and triplex purchasers from having to pay VAT on the transaction price directly targets “the Bahamian staple, the Bahamian blueprint” for how younger buyers can attain the home ownership dream.
BY FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
percent at the end of the 2025 second quarter - is already operating at close to its structural unemployment capacity. If correct, that means The Bahamas could - even at peak economic activity - be faced with a jobless rate where still close to one out of every ten Bahamians looking for work is unable to find it. “Labour market conditions exhibit limited adjustment over the projection period,” the Fiscal Strategy Report said, looking out over a tenyear period to 2035-2036. “The unemployment rate declines from 9.5 percent to 9 percent by fiscal year 2028-2029 and remains broadly unchanged thereafter. This plateau suggests that the economy is operating near its structural employment capacity, with
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Amid rising administration’s VAT relief will mortgage and conhave a significant struction costs, impact. Bahamians are And, besides the increasingly turnmulti-unit VAT ing to duplexes, exemption for firsttriplexes and time home buyers, even larger multhe Corcoran C.A. ti-unit complexes Christie chief also to enable them to praised the GovGAVIN CHRISTIE ‘own a piece of the ernment’s decision rock’ by generat- flagged before the ing rental income 2026-2027 Budget’s from leasing out a portion of unveiling last week - to raise their properties to tenants. the qualifying ceiling for Mr Christie disclosed that this relief by $100,000 from half his firm’s local business $500,000 to $600,000. That is young Bahamians seeking will likely work with the multheir first investment property, ti-unit exemption’s inclusion and asserted that such a “masEXPAND - See Page B4 sive number” means the Davis
BPL blames Nassau outages on demand, network faults BAHAMAS Power & Light (BPL) yesterday blamed multiple New Providence outages on equipment faults, underground cable failures and soaring electricity demand caused by an early summer heat wave, while maintaining that major network upgrades remain on schedule ahead of hurricane season. Responding to Tribune Business inquiries, Anthony Christie, BPL's chief operating officer, acknowledged that customers have experienced repeated service interruptions in recent days but said the utility has developed plans to minimise disruption as critical maintenance work continues. "New Providence has experienced a number of outages over the past several days," said Mr Christie. "These outages have been caused by faults affecting
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BAHAMAS POWER & LIGHT (BPL) HEADQUARTERS substation equipment and underground cables in certain areas. Additionally, the ongoing heat wave has resulted in peak system loads, placing increased demand on the electrical network." Mr Christie said BPL has expanded its communications efforts during outages, with planned notifications typically issued 24 to 48 hours in advance and updates provided through the utility's Whats App channel. He added that Bahamas Grid Company (BGC) is in the final
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