FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016
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Bahamas ‘land fraud’ sparks furious battle By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net The battle over an alleged Bahamas real estate fraud hit new heights yesterday, as international investors pushed for a summary judgment to recover outlays worth tens of thousands of dollars. A group of US and Irish investors, in court documents obtained by Tribune Business, are claiming they were deceived into purchasing lots on Long Island for which they never received title deeds confirming their ownership. They also allege that the sales to them were illegal, as the lots were not in an approved subdivision, thereby violating the Planning and Subdivisions Act 2010.
Alleged fraud victim demands action by authorities
Investors: No deeds received, sales illegal under law
Calls for nation to switch to registered land system
Vendors hit back with ‘blackmail, extortion’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Fight highlights reputation risks for nation The four-strong group, headed by US citizen John Brier, are now seeking summary judgment after the ‘sellers’, and their See pg b4
McCain... contacted FBI on investors’ behalf.
Deal was to ‘save my life savings’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net The alleged victims of a Bahamas real estate fraud were yesterday labelled “a group of spoiled rich kids”, who were seeking to extort money from the vendors via ‘blackmail’. Keith De Cay, who sought to broker a settlement with
the group, headed by US citizen John Brier, alleged that he only persuaded the Long Island land’s vendor, Billy Wayne Davis, to sign the agreement as a way to “preserve my life savings”. Mr De Cay accused Mr Brier and his group of seeking “to destroy” a project, in which he has supposedly invested, and lies on land owned by Mr Davis’s Long
Bahamas ‘just too murky’ on land buying
Island Investments vehicle. That project, known as Eco Village Bahamas, is purported being developed by a third party developer, David Campbell, who splits his time between Canada and Switzerland. “He originally told [us] that he had the exclusive rights to all of the land Mr Davis was selling through See pg b6
Real estate dispute ‘broker’ sticks to blackmail claim But admits land sales to investors were ‘illegal’ Buyers emphatically deny allegations
An alleged land fraud victim yesterday said he would never again seek to acquire Bahamian real estate because the process was “too murky”. John Brier, who has initiated legal action on behalf of himself and others to recover thousands of dollars purportedly invested in Long Island real estate, called on the Bahamas to follow other countries in moving to a system of registered land. He also hit out at the Bahamian authorities for failing to take action against the perpetrators of real estate schemes such as the one that has impacted himself and other foreign buyers. Mr Brier, together with fellow American, Eugene Gridnev, and Irish citizens Mark Murphy and Phila Keane, is alleging that they never received valid title deeds to the properties they allegedly bought. And, given that the Ministry of Works had provided no subdivision approval, the quartet are claiming that the sales to them are illegal and invalid under the Planning and Subdivisions Act (see other article on Page 1B). “I would never buy there again or attempt to buy there again because it’s just too murky and people get scammed,” Mr Brier told Tribune Business of the Bahamian real estate market. “When you start seeing people have been scammed out of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, it’s See pg b5
Don’t ‘capitulate’ on Chamber chair urges greater minority investor safeguards our financial services Too often ‘along By NATARIO McKENZIE
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Bahamas was yesterday urged not to “capitulate” over its financial services industry, with one practitioner refuting the former prime minister’s belief that the sector is beyond “salvaging”. Paul Moss, president and owner of Dominion Management Services, told Tribune Business that Hubert Ingraham seemed “not to want to fight” for the sector’s survival, based on comments made to the media. Mr Ingraham was reported as saying that the Bahamas had lost its traditional private banking business as a result of international regulatory pressures, and enforced legal reforms, and that this nation had yet to ‘see the worst’ in terms of the sector’s shrinkage. But Mr Moss, who is one of the few Bahamian owners in the industry, said that such ‘defeatist’ talk reflected the lack of clear thinking within government that was necessary to reposition financial services to cope in the new global realities. He agreed that Mr Ingraham was right when it came to the Bahamas’ pre-2000 financial services model, which was based on client anonymity and tax avoidance, and on the need to better diversify the national economy. “What he’s saying is correct in terms of finding other industries,” Mr Moss told Tribune Business. “But this financial services industry can be salvaged, and be a part of this, but I’m not finding anyone talking the language that shows they understand how to do this. “His [Mr Ingraham’s] response is exactly what the attitude has been all along; to get out of it. That’s how we’ve conducted ourselves; exactly how he talked. “His observation on the need to diversify the economy is correct, but not at the expense of financial services.” Mr Moss again reiterated his previous plea for the Bahamas to switch from a ‘no tax’ to a ‘low tax’ model in terms of income and corporate taxes, arguing that this would help to shed the ‘tax haven’ perception and give
Tribune Business Reporter
Bahamian practitioner: Sector can be ‘salvaged’ Calls for model change to low tax, transparency Says former PM ‘seems not to want to fight’
Former PM Hubert Ingraham the industry greater legitimacy. “We have an opportunity to lead, but we don’t want to do that,” he told Tribune Business. “It’s not the end of the sector. Absolutely not. I still believe the sector can See pg b7
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The Bahamas needs to implement greater minority investor protection, with the Chamber of Commerce’s chairman arguing that too many were content to “ride along” with the majority. Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business there had been “little to no agitation” for legislative safeguards to protect minority investors, who had often been happy to be “along for the ride”
for the ride’ with majority Bahamas needs ‘checks and balances’ on majority
with the controlling block. Mr Bowe, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Bahamas accountant and partner, said: “We are in-
vesting in all of these IPOs and companies, but there is no agitation for minority investor legislation, so most investors are along for the ride with the controlling block. “What you have in most of the advanced territories is legislation that says you can’t dictate capitalism. If you own the majority of shares you have the ability to make the majority of the decisions, but there is legislation that says certain things have to have minority approval, in terms of the See pg b7
Gowon Bowe