By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The former prime minister urged his investments chief to give a Bahamian entrepreneur “all the assistance necessary” to ensure his success only to snub him 12 months later for Royal Caribbean.

Tribune Business has seen e-mails showing that Dr Hubert Minnis was extremely keen for Toby Smith’s $2m Paradise Island Lighthouse and Beach Club project to succeed when he contacted Candia Ferguson, then-director of investments at the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA), in early 20190.

Responding to Mr Smith’s request for meetings with multiple government agencies, including the Department of Lands and Surveys and Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation (AMMC), in an effort to move his project forward, Dr Minnis wrote: “Candia, kindly ensure Toby receives all the assistance necessary... He must be assisted to ensure success.”

That e-mail was sent on January 22, 2019, which is almost exactly one year prior to the then-Minnis administration’s decision to hold-off signing Mr Smith’s Crown Land lease for a total five acres - one two-acre parcel around the Paradise Island lighthouse, and another three acres further east - after Royal Caribbean expressed its interest in obtaining the latter parcel for its Royal Beach Club.

The contents, and timing, of that e-mail are likely to raise fresh questions over whether a Bahamian entrepreneur, whose Crown Land lease request was submitted first, was jettisoned in favour of the cruise line giant and to make way for its rival development.

For Nicole Campbell, then permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, wrote to Richard Hardy, director of lands and surveys, on November 14, 2018, affirming that the minister responsible for Crown Lands (Dr Minnis) had agreed to negotiate a 21-year lease with Mr Smith for the five acres plus a portion of the seabed for “recreational and entertainment facilities”.

This, she added, had resulted from decision taken previously by the National Economic Council (NEC), really the Cabinet or a Cabinet sub-committee. However, although Mr Smith received a copy of that lease on January 7, 2020, via a letter from Mr Hardy, and returned it signed several days later, the Government never signed and executed it on its return.

For five days earlier, on January 2, 2020, Ms Ferguson had informed Royal Caribbean’s attorney, Campbell Cleare at McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes, that the grant of a Crown Land lease “in the vicinity of Colonial Beach” had been approved by the NEC.

Royal Caribbean had steadily amassed around 13.5 acres on Paradise Island’s western end by buying out private landowners in the area, but its efforts to lease seven extra Crown Land acres brought it into conflict with Mr Smith as both are seeking the same three acres.

Mr Smith’s subsequent Supreme Court action, which remains live, is alleging that he was granted a valid Crown Land lease over both parcels, including the lighthouse and the area at Colonial Beach, for his “beach break” destination, and that agreement is now legally binding.

The case is based on the letter from Mr Hardy, which was headlined “approval for crown land lease” over the two tracts he wanted. This lease was agreed over a year before Dr Minnis signed off on Royal Caribbean’s controversial May 2021 lease deal.

That lease yesterday came under fire from activist group, Protect Our Island Funds (POIF), which said the potential 150-year length “makes it clear that, on the environment and economics aspects, the Paradise Island project is a bad deal for The Bahamas”.

It added in a statement: “The lease mandates that the Government renew every 25 years while ensuring Royal Caribbean only pays a fraction of what they expect to profit off the project. How will Royal Caribbean guarantee that money is reinvested in the Bahamian people whose Crown Land they are profiting off of?

“The answer is simple – they can’t. We have seen Royal Caribbean take advantage of Bahamians with the promise of opportunities for everyone and then fail to deliver before.” The group also questioned how the Royal Beach Club will impact downtown Nassau and other businesses that rely on the cruise industry.

“Will a beach club on Paradise Island only divert cruise passenger spend into the hands of Royal Caribbean and away from downtown shops, vendors and onshore excursion operators?” it asked.

“Our nation’s hair braiders, straw market vendors, artisans, musicians, taxi cab drivers, tour operators and other tourism-related entrepreneurs should be concerned about what access to tourists did the Minnis administration secure for them with the Royal Caribbean deal.

“Will access to the Royal Beach Club be for a chosen few or for all who seek to pursue the Bahamian dream of being a self-sufficient, productive member of society? And if Bahamians are allowed to participate, will the burden of costs of carrying thousands or even millions of dollars in insurance in order to be able to offer their services to cruise line passengers be feasible for the average business owner?”