Amid criticisms that its recent announcement of its agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM) to resume work on the stalled Baha Mar project was low on specifics, the government yesterday announced that the parties have established a committee to administer claims of Bahamian and other creditors.
"The government hopes that Bahamian employee claims will be settled no later than September 30, 2016 and that all other claims will be dealt with on or before December 31, 2016," the government said in a statement.
The revelation came one week after Prime Minister
Perry Christie announced at a press conference at the Cabinet Office that thousands of Bahamian employees of Baha Mar will receive outstanding amounts due to them.
Christie also said Bahamian creditors will "receive a significant part, and possibly all, of the value of their claims".
The government announced yesterday that members of the committee that will administer the claims are former Minister of State for Finance James Smith; Grant Lyon (liquidation claims advisor to the government); Yanping Mo (representative of the bank); Norbert Chan (representative of Deloitte), and Tiger Wu (representative of China Construction America).
The statement said, "Part and parcel of the remobilization was the acknowledgement and provision of funds to deal with the claims of unsecured creditors, in particular Bahamian creditors, in accordance with an agreed formula and a process for the assignment of those claims.
"In this regard, it is important to note that these claims are being paid from monies which have been made available by the bank, as the Baha Mar companies in liquidation have no assets from which to pay creditors."
The statement added, "The bank will shortly place on deposit in The Bahamas the funds necessary for the work of the committee to settle the Bahamian employees' related claims as outlined by the prime minister during his address to the nation on August 22, and to administer and pay the claims of Bahamian creditors, according to the process which has been indicated."
The government said further announcements on the specific details of the process will come from the committee. The statement yesterday provided the first details of the process since last week's announcement. Key details of the agreement however remain unknown.
The Supreme Court sealed the agreement a week ago at the request of the government and CEXIM. The government has come under fire for moving to have the agreement sealed. On Thursday, it denied rumors that it agreed to citizenship grants as a part of its agreement with the bank to remobilize Baha Mar. The government also denied that it agreed to give up any Bahamian islands to get the project back on track.
Baha Mar fell into crisis more than a year ago when its developer, Sarkis Izmirlian, moved for chapter 11 protection in Delaware. The government challenged that move and all of the chapter 11 cases have since been dismissed.
Last week, Christie said under chapter 11 efforts, Bahamian creditors had little prospect of being paid anything. He promised that "over the coming days", the government will make publicly available all of the "key items of information so that you can read for yourselves exactly what the facts are". However, since then, Christie has defended the government's decision to apply to the court to seal the deal to protect the integrity of the sale process.
CEXIM has committed to fund all remaining construction costs to complete the project, the prime minister said last week, though he did not reveal how much that is expected to cost. Construction is expected to resume in September. Christie has said the resort will be sold to a "qualified word-class operator" upon completion of the work.
Candia Dames, Guardian Managing Editor
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