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MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021
$5.10 PM urges US judge:
End pursuit of web shop boss By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Prime Minister has urged a US judge to end the federal authorities’ pursuit of Island Luck’s cofounder, writing: “I strongly advocate termination of proceedings against Mr Adrian Fox.” Philip Davis QC, in an August 10, 2021, letter to Judge Denise Cote, hailed Mr Fox’s role as a key player in efforts to legalise the Bahamian web shop sector, which he described as “an industry that long plagued our nation’s underground”. The letter, which was written just over a month
• Urges ‘termination of proceedings’ against Adrian Fox • Island Luck co-founder helped end ‘gaming underground’ • Ex-FBI agents, ministers all sing praises before sentence prior to Mr Davis’ election as Prime Minister, was filed in the southern New York district court on Friday as
one of many character references urging Judge Cote to impose a light, non-custodial sentence upon Mr
PHILIP DAVIS.
ADRIAN FOX. Fox over the role he played in a human smuggling operation more than a decade ago. Mr Fox’s plea deal with US authorities, which omits all mention of the human smuggling offences he was initially charged with, has resulted in him agreeing to plead guilty to one count of
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THE Ministry of Finance’s top official yesterday said The Bahamas’ planned $700m sovereign bond issue “has not stopped” with the Davis administration informed its early placement is “critical”. Simon Wilson, the financial secretary, told Tribune Business the new administration has issued no instructions to halt the foreign currency bond’s placement via the international capital markets.
“It’s there. They’re working on it. The team is working on it. It hasn’t stopped,” he said. “It’s very likely that process will continue. No instructions have been given to stop that work. That work is well advanced.” The bond, which was supposed to be placed by late September/early October 2021, was the centrepiece of the Minnis administration’s borrowing and financing plans. It was to account for 37.8 percent of the Government’s total $1.852bn gross borrowing forecast for the the 2021-2022 fiscal year, and was planned as
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Bahamas must counter punch on offshore leaks By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas was yesterday urged to “look for the positives in a not so positive situation” after this nation was named among the jurisdictions mentioned in the latest offshore finance data leak. Hubert Edwards, principal of Next Level Solutions, a Bahamas-based corporate governance and risk management consultancy, told Tribune Business that this nation must stop allowing critics to “hit us on the back leg all the time” after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its worldwide media partners published
the so-called “Pandora papers”. While the group alleged that its revelations provided a further insight into how world leaders, public officials, wealthy oligarchs and others exploited international financial centres (IFCs) to avoid taxes and hide ill-gotten gains, Mr Edwards argued that The Bahamas needed to counter-punch by defending its products, structures and presence in the financial services industry. While acknowledging that the “Pandora Papers” disclosure, and the inclusion of The Bahamas, “on the face of it could have some reputational damage”, he argued that the leaks appeared
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Waterloo to hire 40 for end-month re-opening By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Gov’ts $700m bond: Early issue ‘critical’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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A POPULAR nightspot yesterday said it plans to hire around 40 people over the next month to facilitate its end-October/ early November re-opening in time for the Christmas season. Kevin Knowles, Club Waterloo’s principal, told Tribune Business that “people are craving to be out and socialising again” as he readies “to hire a whole new team” for the East Bay Street location following the nightly curfew’s push-back to a midnight start. Describing Club Waterloo’s return as “a fight” and “a long road”, Mr Knowles and his business were among the night-time operators frustrated by the former administration’s early curfews and associated COVID-19 measures. After adjusting its traditional nightclub/bar business model to cater to
outdoor dining, with seating for 100 guests, following the economy’s emergence from the first COVID-19 lockdown, Club Waterloo was then unable to obtain an answer from the Prime Minister’s Office on its proposal to cater to private parties featuring resort guests - most of whom were likely to be fully vaccinated. With this business niche the difference between opening and closing, Mr Knowles told this newspaper in June 2021 that Club Waterloo had no choice but to close yet again and furlough its then-50 to 60 staff in order to stem “unsustainable” operating losses. He hit out at the uneven “playing field” that allowed resorts to keep open similar amenities while Bahamianowned firms had to close. Now, with the newly-elected Davis administration narrowing the New Providence curfew to between 12 midnight and 5am as its first act upon
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