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CCA: WE SHOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF BAHAMAS
Contractor reached out for help to son of top govt advisor By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE SENIOR vicepresident of Baha Mar’s main contractor, China Construction America, urged the company to “take advantage of the Bahamas government” - while the contractor also asked the son of Perry Christie’s top policy adviser to intervene when his father proposed changing The Pointe’s Heads of Agreement over how many Bahamian construction workers would be employed. E-mails tabled in the
New York State Supreme Court on Friday reveal Daniel Liu, the senior vicepresident, made an urgent request for help within days of Sir Baltron Bethel altering the agreement’s wording to make clear The Pointe’s 70:30 labour ratio in favour of Bahamians applied to construction workers only. The documents, filed as part of Sarkis Izmirlian’s $2.25bn fraud and breach of contract claim against the Chinese state-owned contractor over Baha Mar’s failure, disclose the person he reached out to for help was Sir Baltron’s son, Leslie. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
‘URCA ENDORSING BPL BREAKING LAW’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
FNM leader Michael Pintard is challenging whether electricity regulators are “endorsing” Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) breaking the law by asserting it has made an “adequate case” to hike its fuel charge by up to 163 percent. Mr Pintard said the
PUTTING ITS BEST COAT ON
Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s short three-paragraph statement affirming BPL’s rolling fuel charge increases are justified was “quite puzzling” given the October 4 plan unveiled by both the utility regulator and the Davis administration seemingly breaches the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (Amendment) regulations. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
ELBOW Reef Lighthouse gets a new coat of paint in its famous red and white stripes - thanks to a partnership with the US Embassy. See PAGE FIVE for the full story. Photo: Heather Forde-Prosa
CALL FOR GOVT PROBE TWO WOMEN KILLED AFTER BARGE SINKS IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
LOCAL environmentalists are calling for government to launch investigations into a sunken
barge that was spotted off Goodman’s Bay last week, citing concerns about its potential environmental impact. Activist Eric Carey, SEE PAGE FIVE
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net
TWO women were killed in separate traffic accidents on the weekend, one in New Providence and the other in Grand Bahama.
Their deaths brought the country’s traffic fatality count for the year to 57. The first incident happened shortly before 9am on Saturday. SEE PAGE FOUR
PM: MURDER RATE ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis said his administration is concerned about the nation’s escalating murder rate, but is hopeful that their crime fighting initiatives will start “bearing fruit” soon. Mr Davis commented on the nation’s rising murder toll on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the
PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis. Great Harbour Cay airport on Friday. He told reporters that the
murder count, which was 126 for the year up to press time according to this newspaper’s records, was simply unacceptable. “We are all concerned about the murder rate and the level of homicide in our country is unacceptable,” Mr Davis said. “We are putting in place initiatives to curb it and hopefully those initiatives will be bearing fruit in short order.” SEE PAGE THREE
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