BMD Holdings said the Government of The Bahamas is reaping what it sewed when it comes to Baha Mar as the Cable Beach mega-resort remains in liquidation.
“The Government of The Bahamas is reaping what it has sown. Baha Mar is not built. Baha Mar is not open. And while CEXIM under the winding up/liquidation process has been able to protect its interest in Baha Mar, no Bahamian unsecured creditors have been paid and many Bahamians remain shamefully unpaid and out of work,” Baha Mar Developer Sarkis Izmirlian said in a statement.
Officials said nearly one year after Baha Mar abruptly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy “has suddenly paid two law firms, which were not directly engaged in the Baha Mar Chapter 11 reorganization.”
“Among the many head-scratching statements made by the prime minister in Parliament yesterday, one that is particularly startling is the hypothetical assertion by the government’s paid legal advisors that there was ‘no realistic prospect that the Baha Mar debtors could raise’ the capital to reorganize and open Baha Mar,” Mr. Izmirlian said.
“Yet this hypothetical is completely at odds with the prime minister’s statement on April 13th of this year that ‘clearly Izmirlian comes from a family that isn’t short on money.’ It also runs counter to the fact that Mr. Izmirlian has already invested almost $ 1 billion in the Baha Mar project.”
While wrapping up the 2016/2017 budget debate in the House of Assembly, Prime Minister Christie said the Government of The Bahamas was acting on legal advice from Bahamian, US and UK attorneys when it interfered with Baha Mar’s US-based bankruptcy proceedings.
He also denied claims that the Christie administration has a special relationship with China Exim Bank and China Construction America.
“The accusation that my government is conspiring with the Chinese against the previous developer is totally false,” Mr. Christie said.
“The record will show that while I was acting as an intermediary with the Exim Bank at the request of Mr. Izmirlian, he without notice to the Bahamas Government, the Exim Bank and the general contractor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States.
“It was upon the advice of the government’s Bahamian, US, UK attorneys that the Government of The Bahamas resisted in the national interest the Chapter 11 proceedings and recognition of the same in Bahamas courts.”
However, Mr. Izmirlian said public record shows otherwise.
“The public record since the government’s ill-conceived opposition to the Chapter 11 has turned up documentation revealing duplicity, misconduct and unquestionable failure to perform by CCA. The very company that failed to deliver Baha Mar despite multiple promises and whom the Government of The Bahamas supports instead of the developer,” the statement said.
Officials say the only reason why the board of directors undertook the Chapter 11 process is because it provided Baha Mar the opportunity to pay off creditors and complete the Cable Beach mega-resort in the shortest period of time.
“The flaws in the government’s paid-for chapter 11 analyses one year later by two law firms are so numerous that it is hard to understand how the Government of The Bahamas could abide by this analysis or why it would present this analysis to Parliament now,” Mr. Izmirlian said.
