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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2023
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Wendy’s tells Town Planning: No more PI project mistakes By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net WENDY’S is urging the planning authorities to take “great care” to ensure approval for a Paradise Island restaurant, which could create between 75-100 total jobs, is not again derailed by procedural irregularities. Psomi Holdings, the corporate vehicle seeking to redevelop the
former Scotiabank branch into a combined 175-seat Wendy’s and Marco’s Pizza eatery, called on the Town Planning Committee to make sure “the correct procedures” for holding “a fair public consultation” on its application are followed. Launching its fresh bid for site plan approval, Psomi Holdings told Keenan Johnson, the Town Planning Committee’s chairman in a July 23, 2023, letter: “Having regard to the decision
WEDNY’S PARADISE ISLAND RENDERING of the [appeals] Board set-
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Founder interest ‘four times’ higher than Jack’s Bay goal By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SIR Franklyn Wilson yesterday said the 1,200acre Jack’s Bay project has attracted interest from “four times” the number of founding buyers it is targeting while receiving “a very strong endorsement” from Scotiabank. The Eleuthera Properties and Jack’s Bay chairman, speaking as the latter unveiled a multi-million dollar debt financing package from the Canadian lender that will enable it to build-out its amenities and provide mortgage funding to its
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L to R: Alicia Rolle, senior credit solutions officer at Scotiabank; Velma Miller, senior client relationship officer at Scotiabank; Greg Stuart, head of corporate and commercial banking at Scotiabank (Bahamas); Tommy Turnquest, chief executive of Jack’s Bay; Robi Das, portfolio manager and strategy advisor to Sir Franklyn Wilson; and Sir Franklyn Wilson, chairman of Eleuthera Properties.
homeowners, pledged that “big things are happening” with a project he and fellow investors first acquired more than 60 years ago. He described Jack’s Bay as “pretty unique” given
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Opposition alarm on S&P’s three times’ higher deficit By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s finance spokesman yesterday voiced alarm over Standard & Poor’s (S&P) prediction that the fiscal deficit for the 2023-2024 Budget year will come in more than three times’ higher than the Government’s forecast at $466m. Kwasi Thompson, also east Grand Bahama MP, in a statement responding to the credit rating agency’s recent country
KWASI THOMPSON analysis on The Bahamas, said his party is “gravely concerned” by the wide divergence between its projections and the Davis administration’s own
deficit target of $131m for the current fiscal year. The latter figure is equivalent to 0.9 percent of Bahamian gross domestic product (GDP), or economic output, but S&P is forecasting a deficit - which measures by how much the Government’s spending exceeds its income in any fiscal year - of 3.2 percent of GDP. Suggesting that any improvement in the Government’s fiscal health will be more gradual than the administration anticipate, S&P’s comments also
suggested that austerity measures may be required, via spending cuts, new and/or increased taxes or a combination of both, if higher economic growth fails to materialise and revenue and deficit targets are not hit. “We expect that fiscal deficits will continue to decline and the pace of nominal debt growth will slow, translating into a gradual reduction of our net debt-to-GDP ratio, although the interest
It also called on the planning regulator to make sure “appropriate measures are taken to ensure that the public consultation is fair” after the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, in a June 14, 2023 verdict, overturned the original goahead for the Paradise Island
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RBC’s $22m payment suspicion ‘reasonable’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE COURT of Appeal yesterday ruled it was “reasonable” for Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to find that $21.957m paid to a Bahamian businessman by a Slovakian he has never met for investment in his sand mining venture was “suspicious”. The three justices, in a unanimous verdict, dismissed Larry A. Ferguson’s appeal against the Supreme Court’s initial ruling which found that the Canadianowned bank was more than justified in refusing to process and clear a sum that was paid to him via 23 VISA transactions that exceeded the card’s limit each time. Appeal Justice Indra Charles, in her ruling, said all 23 payments by Boris Plavala, a Slovak citizen, were “force posted” - meaning that the receiving party bypasses the card company’s normal authorisation process by taking the point-of-sale facility that processes such payments
offline. The recipient then processes the transaction via a code obtained from his/her bank. RBC subsequently flagged the payments to Mr Ferguson and his companies as “suspicious transactions”, and placed a hold on the accounts. VISA also declined to settle the payments, all of which were for $990,000 each time bar one that was for $168,000, because they exceeded the card’s individual transaction limit, while the issuing institution, ZUNO Bank, asserted that all transfers were “fraudulent”. Ultimately, RBC reversed the payments to Mr Ferguson, who initiated legal action as a result. Noting that he had been an RBC client since October 27, 2010, appeal justice Charles wrote: “On or about October 18, 2016, the appellant handed a letter to the respondent [RBC] alleging that funds in the amount of 350m Euros would be immediately transferred to his accounts.
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Tax authorities push Out Island compliance drive By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net THE GOVERNMENT’S major tax authority is undertaking a Family Island compliance tour to better educate residents and businesses on the need to pay their due tax obligations and how to do so, it was confirmed yesterday. John Williams, the Department of Inland
Revenue’s (DIR) communications chief, told Tribune Business that officials are currently in Bimini, the third island they have visited after Long Island and Abaco as part of this initiative. He maintained that it is geared towards educating residents on the requirements they must meet for Business Licences, VAT and real property tax rather than an enforcement crackdown that will result
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in sanctions, goods seizures and company closures. He said: “We’re visiting these islands to educate persons on what they need to be doing for Business Licence, real property tax, VAT and everything else that we do at the Department. It’s not a visitation to shut anybody down, or anything of the likes. We just want persons to know what they need to do to become compliant.” Mr Williams added that the meetings the
HURRICANE SEASON IS HERE. ARE YOU PREPARED?
Department of Inland Revenue is holding with Family Island communities to address their queries, gather feedback and resolve outstanding tax matters is generating a positive response. He said: “We’ve held Town Hall meetings, either one or multiple meetings, depending on the island and the reach, to hear from persons in the community; what issues they’re having
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