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PM told EU three times: We’ll resolve concerns By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Prime Minister signed three letters promising the European Union (EU) that The Bahamas would address - within the required deadline - the very concerns that have resulted in the country’s imminent ‘blacklisting’. Tribune Business can reveal that Philip Davis KC signed three separate letters over a six-week period between December 15, 2021, and January 26, 2022, pledging that The Bahamas will resolve the 27-nation bloc’s issues over “economic substance” and tax reporting. This comes amid accusations yesterday by the Opposition and others that the Government “dropped the ball” over a ‘blacklisting’ that was both avoidable and foreseeable (see other article page 1B). The Davis administration’s promises are detailed in a February 2, 2022, report by the Code of Conduct Group - which oversees the bloc’s so-called “international tax
• Accusations Gov’t ‘dropped ball’ on new blacklisting • Bahamas promised to act three times’ in six weeks • OECD refused to change noncompliant tax finding co-operation” initiative - to the EU Council’s general secretariat. It discloses that it warned The Bahamas on December 13, 2021, about its concerns with several aspects of this country’s tax-related regulatory regime and called on the country to make “a political commitment” to resolve them to its satisfaction. The Bahamas responded, according to the EU report, within 48 hours by pledging to make good any deficiencies within the required timeline. The EU appeared to take its cue from the Organisation for Economic
Co-Operation and Development (OECD), and the latter’s “harmful tax practices forum”, given that both bodies’ tax initiatives overlap to some extent. The EU report focused on the implementation of so-called “economic substance” laws and regulations, which require companies to show they are doing real, legitimate business in a jurisdiction and are not merely brass plate, letterbox fronting companies acting to shield taxable assets and wealth from their home country authorities. It thus wrote to “no or only nominal tax jurisdictions”, such as The Bahamas, which “failed to meet one or more of the requisite standards” in an assessment by the OECD’s forum. The standard in question was not specified, but the OECD had “urged” all countries with weaknesses to take action to address them. “On December 13, 2021, the Group sent a letter on [these] issues to The Bahamas, requesting a commitment to address the issues identified in the assessment in due time so that
SEE PAGE B4
Digital asset ‘disruptors’ to shrug off EU blacklist By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN accountant is voicing optimism that this country’s latest threatened blacklisting by the European Union (EU) will have “minimal” impact on its ambitions to become a global digital assets and crypto hub. John Bain, the HLB Galanis firm’s advisory partner, told Tribune Business that the “rule breakers” and “disruptors” in the digital assets space are less likely to be impacted by such adversity when compared to traditional financial services because they are used to overcoming
seemingly-impossible challenges. “Remember, the digital assets space is populated by people who are innovators,” he said. “They’ve been pushed back before; everybody tells them it can’t be done. They’re not people who are intimidated by that stuff; they’re pushing through the forests. I don’t think it will affect them as much as a conservative banker or a conservative institution. “These guys are in the IT (information technology) world. They’re innovators who are out there, breaking the rules and what people say cannot be done. They’re going against the
SEE PAGE B3
‘Disastrous consequences’ on water lens development By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A PROMINENT attorney and conservationist is warning that New Providence residents will face “disastrous consequences” if the Government continues to permit development that impacts the islands’ fresh water lenses. Pericles Maillis, in his written submissions to last week’s public Town Planning consultation on the proposed Adelaide Pines project, said the proposed mixed-use residential, retail, office and light industrial community raised wider issues of public
importance given that it will be built on top of a fresh water lens that is between 40-60 feet deep. Calling for the developer’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be subjected to a “peer review” by an independent consultant, he argued that previous fresh water resources studies by the Water & Sewerage Corporation - which were “apparently unavailable” to Adelaide Pines’ investors “show the great south-west [New Providence] fresh water lens as being 40 to 60 feet deep and running directly under the subject wetlands”.
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GRAND LUCAYAN RESORT
Lucayan chairman tight lipped on $5m deposit By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Grand Lucayan’s chairman is “moving on to November 15”, the targeted closing date for the hotel’s $100m sale, although he was tight-lipped on whether a binding sales contract has been signed and a deposit paid. Julian Russell told Tribune Business he was “bound” by a confidentiality agreement, and could disclose few to no details on the status of negotiations
with Electra America Hospitality Group, when this newspaper asked whether the potential buyer had paid the $5m deposit towards the purchase price as set out in the two sides’ May Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Also asked whether a sales agreement has now been signed, he replied: “I’m still bound by confidentiality so that’s why I really can’t say anything. We we will be coming out with a future statement.
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