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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2025
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GBPA’s go-ahead to ‘repossess’ Royal Oasis casino over $1.2m By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Supreme Court has paved the way for the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) to “repossess” the Royal Oasis casino and nearby parking lot over $1.2m in unpaid service charge debts. Justice Petra HannaAdderley, in an August 22, 2025, verdict ruled that Freeport’s quasi-governmental authority and its Freeport Commercial and Industrial affiliate are “entitled to re-enter” and seize control of both sites unless the rundown resort’s owner, Harcourt Development, pays off the service charge arrears in full. And she affirmed that the Irish-headquartered property developer’s failure to pay, which dates back to 2008 - the year after it acquired the Royal Oasis property - means
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both the GBPA and Freeport Commercial and Industrial are “entitled to a declaration” that all of Harcourt’s “rights, title and interest” in the two land parcels have been “extinguished” as if its purchase never happened. Justice Hanna-Adderley’s ruling has emerged at a critical and sensitive time for many of the parties involved, as well as the Government’s ambitions for Freeport. With Harcourt thought to be seeking an exit route from its Grand Bahama investments, the judgment effectively means it will now need to pay an extra $1.2m to maintain ownership of the whole Royal Oasis property and clear the way for its sale. One potential buyer appears to be the Government. The 2025-2026 Budget again sets aside $1m in the Ministry of Grand Bahama’s capital budget for the “acquisition of Royal
Fears ‘cart before the horse’ over North Eleuthera airport By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net MORE than 3,000 North Eleuthera “common land owners” are concerned the Government has “put the car before the horse” on the compulsory acquisition of 628 acres for expansion of the area’s airport. Dorlan Curtis, executive secretary for the Harbour Island Commonage Committee, told Tribune Business the several thousand owners it represents
also want to ensure the timely payment of compensation for the loss of their land-holdings “doesn’t get pushed under the rug” as the Davis administration proceeds with North Eleuthera airport’s $55m development. He explained that, while the Committee and those it represents are not opposed to the airport’s expansion or the Government’s acquisition of their land for this purpose, they are instead concerned that construction work appears to have started and be progressing
‘Colossal waste of judicial resources’
without any official consultation or talks with themselves. Noting the similarities between the present situation and tensions that surfaced when the North Eleuthera airport expansion plans surfaced under the former Minnis administration, Mr Curtis told this newspaper that prior talks with the Government about the commoners enjoying a share of the per passenger departure, landing and other fees “never came to fruition”. Stating that it is now “fast forward” to 2025, he added: “As a
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net COURT of Appeal judges yesterday slammed the Supreme Court’s handling of a dispute related to an attorney accused of stealing client funds as “a colossal waste of judicial resources”. Both justice Milton Evans, the Court of Appeal president, and fellow justice Stella Crane-Scott, asserted that based on the record of proceedings before them Justice Cheryl
Attorney overturns $70,000 ‘jail avoidance’ repayment By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
commonage we don’t necessarily object to the airport. We do object to the way proceedings are being handled. We’re not
A BAHAMIAN attorney yesterday successfully overturned a verdict ordering she repay $70,000 provided by her late former parents’ in-law to prevent her being jailed for stealing client funds. The Court of Appeal, in a unanimous September 9, 2025, decision agreed with the arguments advanced by Sonia Timothy-Serrette and her attorney, ex-MP Keod Smith, and set aside “In its entirety” the previous Supreme Court ruling that found the payment was a “soft loan” she was obligated to repay to her former in-laws within two years. The events behind yesterday’s verdict, which saw the Court of Appeal blast the dispute’s handling by the Supreme Court and Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson as “a colossal waste of judicial time” (see other article on Page 1B), dated from 2009 when Ms Timothy-Serrette was charged with stealing $96,968 from retired teacher Fiordelisa Bain, who attended the same church. The Tribune’s records from the time record how Ms Timothy-Serrette was given one month by then-deputy chief magistrate Carolita Bethell to repay the monies to her client otherwise she would be sentenced to a two-year prison term. To raise the funds, which she did not have, she “coerced” her former in-laws to sell property they owned at Yamacraw to Sir Franklyn Wilson’s Arawak Homes. Stephen Serrette senior and Bessie Serrette, both of whom have now passed and were represented before the Court of Appeal by their respective estates, asserted in their original claim filed in 2015 that they sold the Yamacraw Beach Estates property at a 33 percent discount to its appraised value due to the urgency with which their then-daughter-in-law needed funds - costing them $35,000. “The defendant had two matters before the courts as it related to monies owed to her clients,” the couple alleged, one of which involved “allegedly misappropriating” monies from a bishop whose name was blanked out by the Court of Appeal.
EXPANSION - See Page B5
REPAY - See Page B5
FOOTNOTE - See Page B4
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Grant-Thompson had failed to “take control of the proceedings” in a case involving allegations that Sonia Timothy-Serrette had failed to repay a $70,000 loan obtained from her former parents-in-law to refund monies taken from her clients. Justice Crane-Scott, in writing a unanimous verdict in favour of Ms Timothy-Serrette, and which overturned the Supreme Court verdict (see other article on Page 1B), said it would not have taken almost eight-and-a-half
years from the time the claim was filed in April 2014 to produce an initial ruling if the matter had been properly managed by the judge. The Supreme Court decision was eventually rendered in September 2022, but the Court of Appeal hinted strongly that it may have been disposed of much sooner if Justice Grant-Thompson had heard Ms Timothy-Serrette’s application to strike her parents-in-law’s claim out. This was never heard, and the judge ultimately
proceeded to a full trial on the claim’s merits. “It need hardly be said that a Judge’s duty to ‘actively manage cases’ involves much more than merely giving directions and fixing timelines to ready a matter for substantive trial,” justice Crane-Scott wrote. “As we have demonstrated, if the learned judge had taken the necessary steps to ensure that the appellant’s strike-out application was either struck-out for want of prosecution, or
MANAGE - See Page B4
‘Scores’ fall victim to phishing scammers By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net FINANCIAL crime investigators yesterday warned that so-called ‘phishing’ scams are increasing with “a number of suspects” being arrested by the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Anthony McCartney, head of the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s financial investigation branch, said
that the scam - which sees perpetrators sending e-mails, text messages or some other form of electronic communication to potential victims, pretending to be their bank or other financial institution in a bid to fool them into handing over their bank account number - has used the name of many local providers. “We want persons who have a relationship with any financial institution to take, and to heed, advice that we
are giving here today. So this applies to all persons, as I indicated, who who have a banking relationship with any financial institution here in The Bahamas,” Mr McCartney said. He added that while certain population groups are not being targeted, it was clear there is an uptick in phishing scams compared to last year. He added that both Bahamians and nonBahamians have been charged, and the Financial Crimes Investigation
Branch has “been successful in apprehending a number of suspects in relation to these matters”. “So we use basic crime scene solving techniques with the use of technology, of course,” Mr McCartney said. “I would also like to point out that we are also utilising our partners in other jurisdictions to assist us with our investigations. We know that this is not isolated here to just Nassau,
FRAUD - See Page B2