Mitchell doubles down on call for Scott to resign

Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Fred Mitchell yesterday doubled down on his call for Hotel Corporation Chairman Michael Scott, QC, to resign from his government appointed post.

Mitchell raised the issue in the Senate yesterday: “Will the government explain why the chairman of the Hotel Corporation Michael Scott continues to lead the corporation in the face of his comment that the sale of the Grand Lucayan hotel in Freeport, Grand Bahama, which he superintends is a bad deal and requires an audit but his minister, the Hon. Dionisio D’Aguilar, publicly contradicted the stated position in the press?”

When contacted for more clarification yesterday, Mitchell said there is a clear conflict between the minister and a government chair, which he felt should have never made it into the public domain.

“The public is entitled to know that the government speaks with one voice, including its executive arms like the public corporations,” Mitchell said. “So, that’s the issue which arises.”

Last week, Scott described the sale of the Grand Lucayan to Royal Caribbean International (RCI) and ITM Group as a “bad deal”, as the board of Lucayan Renewal Holdings Ltd. — the government’s special purpose vehicle to handle the sale of the Grand Lucayan resort — pushes toward a February 2021 reopening.

However, D’Aguilar said on Monday he would not describe the new conditions of the Grand Lucayan sale as “bad”.

Mitchell said the government should be made to give some clarification on the contradictory statements by the two public officials.

“There is a contradiction,” he said.

“So, who is the public to believe, the minister or the chairman of the corporation? There’s an obvious conflict there.”

After purchasing the Grand Lucayan for $65 million from Cheung Kong Property Holdings Limited — the real estate arm of CK Hutchison Holdings — in August 2018, the government in March of this year, signed a heads of agreement (HOA) for the sale of the property and the development of a cruise port.

Although the project was expected to commence in early 2021, the principals now intend to spend less and take a longer time to begin development.

D’Aguilar said whenever the project is complete, The Bahamas stands to benefit.

Mitchell also charged that Scott’s role as an attorney in a Supreme Court matter involving former Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest was a clear conflict.

“If you look at Rule 9 for the Code of Conduct for attorneys under the Legal Professions Act it says that when you are appointed as a public official that you have a duty not to have a conflict between your duty as a public official and that as a private attorney,” Mitchell said.

“So, even if it is a part-time job, and I refer to that because in Scott’s defense to the press he said he only had part-time work with the government, that doesn’t excuse the conflict. The law says that you should not have a conflict of a private role as an attorney or the business you do as a government official. Clearly, he does and instead of resigning from the job as chairman of the corporation, he chose his private duty to his client.”

Although he has not been named as a defendant in the legal action, Turnquest is accused of involvement in a conspiracy that led to two companies being defrauded of around $28 million.

The alleged fraudulent acts occurred between 2008 and 2017, according to a writ filed on November 16 by the law firm of Scott, who has denied that there is a conflict.

Turnquest has since resigned from Cabinet.

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