By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The press secretary for the Office of the Prime Minister, Clint Watson, says the government’s portion of the treasure recovered from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de la Maravillas is at the Central Bank and will not be open for viewing by the general public for security reasons.

Mr Watson, in a brief Whatsapp response to Tribune Business’s questions about the whereabouts of the treasure and artefacts given to the government by the company searching for the remains of the Maravillas, Allen Exploration, wrote: “The government will not be showing. It is advised that it would be a breach of security to show these assets which are at the Central Bank.”

However, the governor of the Central Bank, John Rolle, had told Tribune Business a month ago he is not aware of the artefacts being housed in the bank. In addition, Allen Exploration has the balance of the artefacts on display in the Bahamas Maritime Museum (BMM) in Freeport already with little to no security concerns at the museum.

Dr Michael Pateman, curator for the BMM, told Tribune Business: “When we find things, we have to conserve them first and not everything that is found will survive conservation.”

The conservation process for the Maravillas involves the oxidation of the artefacts before making a determination of what was found. Often, Allen Exploration would only find small fragments before it is fully evaluated and then it is divided between them and the government.

At all material times a government representative from the Antiquities Monuments & Museums Corporation (AMMC) is present when what is found is divided up between Allen Exploration and The Bahamas government.

“We have two Defence Force officers on our vessels and they sign off on everything that we bring up to the lab,” Dr Pateman said. “When things come into the lab, then I sign off that I’ve received them and we have an AMMC representative in the lab with us and she signs off that this is what’s comes in. Then we do the conservation work, and do the evaluations and all of that other stuff and then we have a discussion with government over what they want.”

Dr Pateman also that in previous times the collection went to the Central Bank, and admitted he is a part of that turnover between the AMMC and the Central Bank. Dr Pateman said: “Then we sign off on everything once again on what is on the list. Everybody checks it and signs it off to confirm this is what was deposited.”

The confusion over the accounting for the artefacts found by Allen Exploration, which all sides admit that the government has in principal, comes in the wake of complaints from government about the deal, including National Security Minister Wayne Munroe saying that any company wishing to do exploration in Bahamian waters should commit to a “process” that would allow for more transparency.

The Cabinet minister with responsibility of the AMMC and who would be able to speak to the whereabouts of the treasure and the ability to view them is Prime Minister Philip “Brave’ Davis.

• This story has been changed to say that the governor of the Central Bank, John Rolle, “had told Tribune Business...”, it originally said “had not told...”.