business@tribunemedia.net
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2024
$5.37 $4.85
$5.38
$5.38
$5.53
Nygard legacy fails to halt $11.9m Union Wharf sale • Jailed fashion tycoon’s $3.19m debt no bar • DIR seizure threat for unpaid tax if no close • Roots Junkanoo group dragged into battle
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN attorney’s bid to block the $11.9m sale of downtown Nassau’s Union Wharf property over an alleged debt owed by Peter Nygard has been dismissed by two separate courts. Justice Simone Fitzcharles, in an October 8, 2024, verdict ruled that she would “not impede the sale” of a property - whose redevelopment could play a vital role
AG: Unchecked climate change to make Bahamas ‘uninhabitable’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Attorney General yesterday warned that climate change threatens to make The Bahamas “uninhabitable” with this nation projected to lose “nearly 60 percent of its shoreline” to rising seas by mid-century. Ryan Pinder KC, spearheading The Bahamas’ legal arguments before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the climate change obligations that should apply to all nations, sought to illustrate the threat global warming poses to this low-lying nation by asserting that Nassau and New Providence will be left almost entirely under water should a Category Five strength, Hurricane Dorian-style storm strike. Reiterating that The Bahamas and other small island developing states (SIDS) “need action now”, he repeated calls by this nation and others that major industrial countries
have for decades neglected their climate change obligations to others “in the interest of profits” and “it’s time for these polluters to pay”. And, combining the dire economic and environmental consequences for The Bahamas, Mr Pinder told The Hague-based court that the very seagrass meadows upon which this nation is relying to generate hundreds of millions of dollars from carbon credits are being “destroyed at an alarming rate” of 1-2 percent every year. “Sea levels are rising, and will continue to rise, presenting an unprecedented challenge to the very survival of our nation,” he told the ICJ’s panel of judges. “We are experiencing the effects due to decades of neglect by the industrialised countries. “But long before our territory is submerged, we will feel the impact: Coastal erosion, flooding, salinisation of freshwater
SEE PAGE B5
in Bay Street’s revival - over $3.185m in purported legal fees owed by the jailed and disgraced fashion Canadian fashion tycoon to Carlton Martin. Rather than grant the salebarring injunction that the latter was seeking, Justice Fitzcharles ordered that the deal proceed on the condition that the attorneys for the seller, Gail LockhartCharles & Company, retain from the sales proceeds the sum claimed by Mr Martin in case he wins his claim.
She noted that blocking, or delaying, Union Wharf’s acquisition by Buena Vista Properties could result in its seizure by the Department of Inland Revenue and subsequent auctioning-off to cover unpaid real property tax debts owed to the Public Treasury. Tribune Business sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, yesterday confirmed that the sale of Union Wharf has now closed after Mr Martin’s attempt to overturn Justice Fitzcharles’ initial verdict was also rejected
PETER NYGARD in late October by the Court of Appeal. The only change made by the latter was to increase the sum retained by Gail LockhartCharles & Company to $3.5m. “I think it’s going to be very good for The Bahamas,” one
SEE PAGE B4
‘Desperately bleak’: Bahamas faces greatest sea level rise threat ‘by far’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net MORE than half of New Providence and Paradise Island resorts are “vulnerable” to the weakest storms, it was revealed yesterday, with The Bahamas facing “by far” the greatest global threat from sea level rise. This nation’s bleak economic and fiscal outlook, if nothing is done to counter the effects of global warming, was outlined in The Bahamas’ written arguments to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that were unveiled as two weeks of legal hearings kicked-off over the obligations individual states have to combat climate change. The arguments, signedoff by Ryan Pinder KC, the attorney general, on March 22, 2024, also
RYAN PINDER KC, the attorney general, and The Bahamas’ legal team at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) revealed that The Bahamas’ seagrass meadows - valued at between 6.99bn and 8.34bn euros per year in terms of their ability to extract carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere - are disappearing at a rate of between 1-2
percent per year due to climate change. The Bahamas is relying on these natural, so-called ‘blue economy’ or ocean assets to generate potentially hundreds of millions of dollars per year via carbon credits and create
• More than half Nassau/ PI hotels ‘vulnerable’ to weakest storms • Carbon credit revenue from 8.34bn seagrass meadows ‘at risk’ • Coastal assets projected to lose 34% of value within 50 years a valuable new revenue stream for the Government. Other critical assets under threat include the
SEE PAGE B3
Governance reformers: Police chief’s ‘bribe call’ not sufficient By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net GOVERNANCE reformers yesterday warned the police chief’s call for all persons solicited for bribes to “speak up” is unlikely to succeed unless backed by tough anti-corruption and ‘whistleblower’ protections. Matt Aubry, the Organisation for
Responsible Governance’s (ORG) executive director, while backing many of the measures unveiled by Clayton Fernander, the Royal Bahamas Police Force commissioner, in Sunday’s national address warned that they would “have a better chance of sticking” if The Bahamas had taken a proactive rather than reactive approach to the corruption fight.
The Government and Mr Fernander, stung by the US federal indictment that levies charges of drug trafficking and related bribes against 11 Bahamians - including the police chief responsible for aviation and overseeing airport security including at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) and a Royal Bahamas Defence Force chief petty officer - have promised swift reforms
MATT AUBRY and an anti-corruption crackdown. However, Mr Aubry told Tribune Business that the solutions offered to-date are “too simple” to be
SEE PAGE B4
Freeport logistics flagship seeking buyer for $5.9m By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE flagship property that was intended to signal Freeport’s emergence as a logistics, transhipment and distribution hub has been placed on the market with a $5.9m asking price.
James Sarles Realty, in an a-mail blast yesterday, confirmed that offers are being sought for the 86,396 square foot warehouse originally constructed by Florida-based Associated Grocers/International Distributors at the Sea Air Business Centre (SABC). Mr Sarles could not be contacted for comment before press time last night, but his firm said of
the property: “This 86,396 square foot commercial building is strategically located in tax-free Grand Bahama only 55 miles from the Florida coast between the Freeport International Airport and the Freeport Container Port. “The commercial site consists of 20 acres of freehold property divided into three parcels including two five-acre tracts
of undeveloped land for future expansion land and one extraordinary commercial building which is situated on eight acres. Totaling 86,396 square feet, this building was intended to serve as a distribution centre for product management and the import-export of products.
SEE PAGE B4