James Smith

James Smith, a member of the new committee appointed by the government to oversee the settling of claims of former Baha Mar employees and creditors, said the first time he learned of his appointment was Sunday, the day of the announcement.

In fact, Smith, a former minister of state for finance, said he had not even spoken with anyone from the government officially about his charge prior to the announcement.

The government announced on Sunday that the committee was established to oversee the settlement of claims for former Baha Mar employees and creditors.

The government said it hopes the claims of former employees will be settled by September 30 and all other claims will be settled by December 31.

Claims are being paid from monies which have been made available by the Export-Import Bank of China, as the Baha Mar companies in liquidation have no assets from which to pay creditors.

Smith, who was contacted for comment, was unable to say yesterday how any of it would work.

"It would be too early to speak to (this matter) in terms of reference or protocols," he told The Nassau Guardian.

Smith said he was scheduled to meet with government officials Monday afternoon.

The other members of the committee are 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).

Free National Movement (FNM) Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest said he was surprised to hear of Smith's involvement with the Baha Mar committee, given that Smith is also the chairman of Bahamas Resolve Ltd. (Resolve).

Resolve was set up as a special purpose vehicle to collect around $100 million in outstanding Bank of The Bahamas loans.

"The first thing that came to my mind when I heard it, to be honest with you, is 'James Smith again?', I mean isn't he working on Resolve and making no progress with that? Is there nobody else in the government that is capable?," Turnquest said.

"Is he acting, or are they just appointing him and walking around him?"

Turnquest added that there are more questions than there are answers concerning the formation of the committee.

"Who is getting paid? What is being paid? Are these the appropriate people to arbitrate claims when the construction company in particular were the ones to have left the people high and dry? What is going to be required of the claimants to collect these monies?" Turnquest asked.

Sunday's statement from government said further announcements on the specific details of the claims payment process will come from the committee.

Paige McCartney, Guardian Staff Reporter

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