By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Allyson Maynard-Gibson remained tightlipped yesterday when asked about the government’s pledge to have the sealed Supreme Court documents on the Baha Mar sale made public this month, saying “April is not over yet.”

The documents were sealed at the request of the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM) and the government has described the move as a “commercial decision” undertaken by the bank to protect the sale process.

It is still unclear whether the official sale of Baha Mar to CTF BM Holdings, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong conglomerate, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd, has been finalised, nor is the resort’s sale price known. A legal petition to the court is required before documents relating to the sale of the resort to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) are unsealed.

Mrs Maynard-Gibson yesterday would not confirm whether the government has submitted such a petition, and in the face of questions from reporters simply repeated: “April is not over yet.”

Today is the last business day in this month.

After facing a fiery backlash for months over confirmation that the new deal to open Baha Mar was sealed, Prime Minister Perry Christie told reporters in January that Mrs Maynard-Gibson was directed to have the records made public at the “earliest opportunity”.

The Prime Minister added that his administration had no difficulty in accounting for what it negotiated to facilitate the opening of the West Bay Street mega resort.

The following week, Mrs Maynard-Gibson told reporters that the release of the sealed Supreme Court Baha Mar documents was “most definitely” expected before the opening of the mega resort.

While pinning the government down to a timeframe of the document’s release, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said at the time that she was currently in the process of being advised by attorneys in her office on how best to implement Mr Christie’s directive to have the Baha Mar heads of agreement released for public consumption, while protecting proprietary information.

She repeated the government’s position that the heads of agreement had nothing “unusual” contained in it, adding that providing incentives to investors in the country was not an unfamiliar practice.

Baha Mar staged the ‘soft launch’ of its first phase on April 21, and is slated to open its reservations portal on May 8.

The sealed deal has been a major point of contention for the Christie administration with opposition forces fanning speculation over possible concessions.