OPPOSITION leader Philip “Brave” Davis said the government has not been paying legitimate VAT refunds, adding yesterday that it is undermining the compliance level of the tax and “overstating its true performance value”. Mr Davis said three business people have complained to him about the government’s failure to pay them VAT refunds in accordance with the law. The total amount due to them is about $7m, he said.

The proposed Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) rate reduction bond is an ill-timed hard pill to swallow that would only further skepticism and mistrust of the government at this time, Executive Director of the Organization for Responsible Governance (ORG) Matt Aubry said yesterday. “This comes at a difficult time,” Aubry told Guardian Business yesterday when asked for an alternative to the proposed mandatory fee which would – if the tabled Electricity Rate Reduction Bond Bill is passed – be added to the bills of every electricity consumer in the country. “I don’t think from the public sector side or from the private sector side that this is a very satisfying endeavor. It’s a hard pill to swallow and in the face of some slight gains in areas of ease of doing business, having this rate reduction bond come forward… It is a hit at a time when we need to foster economic development.” The bond, which has been officially dubbed the National Utility Investment Bond, is being proposed to refinance BPL’s $321 million legacy debt by raising $350 million over 20 to 25 years.

THE lead investigator in former Cabinet minister Shane Gibson’s bribery case admitted on Thursday she was wrong to have jointly interviewed a local businessman and a woman to “synchronise” their claims against the former parliamentarian. Assistant Superintendent Debra Thompson said in hindsight, she acted improperly in arranging to meet with both Jonathan Ash and Deborah Bastian to “clear up the ambiguities” in their respective statements against the former labour minister. The officer also admitted that during the meeting, Mr Ash’s and Ms Bastian’s statements were both altered to accommodate the other, and that whatever parts weren’t in sync were “cut out” and discarded altogether. That was evidenced in her being quoted as saying during the meeting in question: “I’m going to take some stuff out of it and just clear up one or two points,” as well as “…It’s just up to the part with the meeting now where I got to cut out a lot of stuff surrounding that.” ASP Thompson also admitted that during the interview, the lawyers for Mr Ash and Ms Bastian, Alecia Bowe and Raymond Rolle respectively, “intervened” on any number of occasions and instructed their clients on how to give their statements.

A former Opposition leader yesterday said the probe into bribery allegations involving the Defence Force’s new $150m fleet had “absolutely vindicated” concerns she first raised five years ago. Loretta Butler-Turner told Tribune Business that “Bahamians should be very concerned as to where this goes” since it “can leave quite a blemish on the country’s reputation” should the claims ultimately be proven true. The former Cabinet minister and MP spoke out after The Tribune confirmed that Bahamian law enforcement authorities have been co-operating with Dutch investigators probing whether the Netherlands-based manufacturer of nine Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) ships paid bribes to secure the deal and similar contracts with other Caribbean countries.