Canadian authorities continue to unearth details and, while none of the allegations have as yet been tested by a court, the role of The Bahamas in what one Montreal police investigator called "the largest corruption fraud in Canadian history" continues to come into sharper focus and raise uncomfortable questions.
Law enforcement authorities have reportedly begun attempting to recover $17.5 million out of the $22.5 million that was alleged to have been defrauded from the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) during the awarding of a $1.3 billion contract to engineering firm SNC-Lavalin to build the super hospital. The man overseeing that process was Arthur Porter, noted cancer specialist and one-time head of Canada's Security Intelligence Review Committee, which oversees the Canadian spy agency CSIS.
Porter has a long connection with The Bahamas. He founded The Cancer Center and chaired the Bahamas Stem Cell Task Force. He has written a memoir - The Man Behind the Bow Tie: Arthur Porter on Business, Politics and Intrigue - and now languishes in jail in Panama. He is fighting extradition to Canada to face charges over the MUHC allegations.
He is also fighting lung cancer.
Court documents in Canada allege that Porter and his wife Pamela, who lived in The Bahamas for a time, had 16 bank accounts in The Bahamas, the United States, Montreal and Sierra Leone.
Since 2013, 21 court orders have been granted to freeze assets in Canada and elsewhere: those assets belong to former MUHC Chief Executive Officer Arthur Porter, his wife, Pamela, and others charged in the alleged conspiracy.
The connections between the scam and The Bahamas are many. Jeremy Morris, allegedly a Bahamian and the administrator of a Bahamas-based investment company, Sierra Asset Management, was arrested and charged in Montreal in connection with the case. Bank accounts in The Bahamas were ordered frozen in connection with the investigation. Property assets in The Bahamas have been ordered seized in relation to the investigation.
Guardian Business has been unable to confirm as yet whether any of the accounts in question have indeed been frozen by Bahamian authorities, or whether any of the property has been seized.
Against the backdrop of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation bid-rigging scandal - which has drawn demands for police action from high-ranking members of the community, and shock from all - some in The Bahamas are wondering about the efficacy of know-your-customer (KYC) rules, due diligence laws, anti-bribery legislation and regulations in The Bahamas, along with other methods that are supposed to prevent the jurisdiction from being abused.
Police in Quebec allege that Jeremy Morris is a Bahamian lawyer and a principal in Sierra Asset Management, who helped to open Pan Global Holdings. These companies were allegedly shell companies used to funnel $22.5 million in illicit payments from SNC-Lavalin to former MUHC executives. Morris surrendered to police in Montreal in March 2013 but was allowed to return to The Bahamas to await trial on charges of fraud, conspiracy and laundering proceeds of crime.
Court documents in Canada allege that another shell company, also allegedly registered in The Bahamas - this one in the name of Pamela Porter - was used to finance eight different homes with a number of the properties purchased for more than US$1 million.
According to documents seen by the Montreal Gazette, Porter's company - Regent, Hamilton, Lumley & Associates - helped with the purchase of three homes in The Bahamas, one in Saint Kitts, one in Nevis, one in Florida, another in Michigan, and a final property in Montreal.
It appears that Regent, Hamilton, Lumley & Associates was set up by Pamela Porter at the request of her husband in 2009. According to the summary of facts, it was a shell company that received a total of $9.92 million in transfers from Arthur Porter's company, Sierra Asset Management, between May 2010 and February 2012. That money, investigators believe, was part of a $22.5-million bribe allegedly paid to Arthur Porter by executives at engineering giant SNC-Lavalin in exchange for SNC's securing of the MUHC super-hospital contract.
The luxury property in The Bahamas - Pineapple Grove - cost nearly US$1.4 million.
Investigators obtained restraining orders for holdings in The Bahamas, Israel, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Sierra Leone and St. Kitts and Nevis, documents show. According to Montreal authorities, the Caribbean properties alone are worth more than US$5.5 million. In some cases, investigators got approval from judges outside the country to freeze assets pending trial.
Pamela Porter pleaded guilty to two counts of money-laundering on December 18, and according to the documents filed in support of her plea, investigators tracked financial transactions and discovered that Arthur Porter's shell company, Sierra Asset Management, received payment from SNC-Lavalin International just weeks following the announcement that SNC-Lavalin had been awarded the MUHC contract.
Sierra Asset Management allegedly transferred $9.92 million into Pamela Porter's shell company, Regent Hamilton, which was registered in The Bahamas. It appears that neither of the two companies - Regent Hamilton or Sierra Asset Management - have had any known business transactions.
It also appears that bank managers in The Bahamas considered the transactions "problematic" and wished to discuss them with Pamela Porter.
Court proceedings against the others involved are set for March.

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