By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An Exuma resort developer and its advisers yesterday denied any involvement with videos that the Deputy Prime Minister asserted have defamed him and plan to file police complaints themselves.

Bob Coughlin, the Turtlegrass Resort & Island Club developer, in a statement said he had no participation in, or connection, to the videos despite Chester Cooper, minister of tourism, investments and aviation, naming him as the person responsible for their creation and release.

And Diane Phillips, of Diane Phillips & Associates, the public relations adviser to Mr Coughlin and Turtlegrass, told Tribune Business that she and her firm would “never in a million years be part” of any attempt to smear Cabinet minsters or any individuals.

Stating that the videos identified by Mr Cooper, one of which has been viewed by this newspaper, appear to have been manipulated to “track back” to her company and make it appear that it was involved in their commissioning and production, she said she now plans to join the deputy prime minister in filing her own complaint with the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s cyber crimes unit. 

Mr Coughlin, who is developing an eco-tourism resort on Big Sampson Cay, Exuma, has threatened to halt the project unless environmental concerns surrounding the neighbouring $200m Rosewood-branded resort, proposed by the Miami-based Yntegra Group, are addressed.

However, in a statement he said that neither himself “nor anyone directly connected with Turtlegrass Resort & Island Club had any part in the creation, funding or distribution of the videos mentioned by the Deputy Prime Minister that contain misleading information and disinformation”.

“We took no part in formulating this misleading video about Yntegra or any government members,” said Mr Coughlin. “We do believe in preserving our country and developing responsibly. We have been open about keeping The Bahamas beautiful but also economic growth; sustainability plus development.”

Turtlegrass added: “Mr Coughlin finds the attempt to link his name and Turtlegrass Resort to the videos in question extremely disturbing. Links to professional colleagues connected to the development are being brought to the attention of law enforcement.”

Mr Cooper, addressing the House of Assembly yesterday, denied assertions made in the videos that a Singapore construction company has been hired to work on Yntegra’s project; that work permits for Chinese workers have been issued; that over-water bungalows have been approved by the Government; and that Crown Land has “secretly” been given to the developer.

“I know who the actors are. But, more importantly, I know who the benefactors are — the shadowy financiers behind this co-ordinated smear campaign, pouring foreign funds into efforts designed to disrupt our democracy and discredit the leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP),” Mr Cooper blasted.

“In recent weeks there has been an active, growing local and international campaign driven by Bob Coughlin, an American businessman, the principal of Turtlegrass Resorts, a project approved for Sampson Cay.

“Mr Coughlin has protested the plans of the adjacent development of the Rosewood Resort being developed by Yntegra Resorts that also has an approved heads of agreement by the Government of The Bahamas. The people of Exuma welcome both developments and are of the view that they can co-exist.”

Mr Cooper also appeared to take a swipe at Turtlegrass’s Bahamian environmental consultant, Eric Carey, the former Bahamas National Trust (BNT) executive director, stating: “There are some who feel that they can bully this government over who and what is approved in our own country.

“They seek to use highly paid local actors who present themselves as some moral authority on environmental matters who can dictate to the Government what is best for the Bahamian people. And when those attempts fail, they then seek to smear and denigrate people and projects that will help our economy. To be clear, they don’t care about Bahamians; they care about their own self-interest.”

Mr Carey, when contacted by this newspaper, declined to respond directly to Mr Cooper, but added: “We are absolutely interested in co-existence. We always have been. We wrote to Yntegra in November and gave them a whole letter that said ‘these are the three to four that need to happen for us to co-exist. They never responded to that.”

Mrs Phillips, meanwhile, told Tribune Business that she had written to Prime Minister Philip Davis KC to disassociate herself and her firm from the videos complained of by Mr Cooper as soon as she learnt of their existence.

“I can assure you that, from the point of view that these things are tracking back to Diane Phillips & Associates, we would never in a million years be part of that,” she said. “I would like to know how they did that. I am so upset that I cannot begin to tell you.

“Everything we have done has focused on the issues. We have never been engaged in politics. I don’t do that. One of the reasons we’ve been so successful for 31 years is that we’ve steered clear of politics and worked with every party that has been in power.

“I wrote to the Prime Minister the minute I saw the videos. I wanted to also send this note to the Cabinet Office. I said: ‘Please share this with your Cabinet colleagues. Our firm has always focused on the issues, and we hope to land on the right side of those issues, whether it has to do with human rights, environmental rights or anything sensitive,” Mrs Phillips continued.

“It’s always about the issues. It’s never about politics and the people. I just hope someone gets to the bottom of this. We do plan to register a complaint with cyber crimes; we will definitely be making a complaint. Maybe they have a way to find out where that’s come from.”

Mrs Phillips said concerns over the Yntegra Group project are being voiced not only by Turtlegrass but the other nine Exuma businesses that are members of the Save Exuma Alliance. “This is a whole community that’s very concerned over the dredging and over-building with lack of sensitivity to the environment by a developer and how it could impact what is known as a jewel of The Bahamas,” she added.

“The central Exuma cays are where divers, environmentalists and researchers have gone and said it’s one of the last pristine areas of the region. It looks today like it did 25 years ago. There are very few places with hard and soft corals, conch hatcheries, where you can see hundreds and hundreds of baby conchs.”

Pointing to Yntegra’s plans to dredge 240,000 cubic yards of fill from the seabed in that area, so as to make way for its marina, Mrs Phillips said: “Bob Coughlin is very willing to meet with them and discuss a reasonable solution where two entities can co-exist, not just with each other but the environment they meet in place. They have to co-exist not just with each other but the environment they meet in place.

“Bob Coughlin’s resort does that now. If Yntegra scales back, and if you look at Rosewood, they have very strong environmental pillars. If Rosewood lives up to their pillars, and treats the environment with respect, both can co-exist and add to the economy, attraction and appeal of the Exuma cays.”