By Neil Hartnell

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Opposition’s leader yesterday told the Prime Minister it is “outrageous and unacceptable” that the amount of Bahamian taxpayer funds injected into “what appears to be a shell company” doubled to more than $20m during the three months to end-September without any Government explanation.

Michael Pintard, in a November 23, 2025, letter to Philip Davis KC demanded that his administration give “a fulsome explanation” on the financing and circumstances surrounding Carmichael Village Project Development Company after the Ministry of Finance’s just-published debt report for the 2025-2026 fiscal year’s first quarter revealed that its entity’s borrowing/indebtedness increased by more than 100 percent during that period.

Asserting that Opposition questions about Carmichael Village Project Development Company have been treated with total silence by the Government for around five months, Mr Pintard renewed his attack and assertions that the company has “no standing with the Registrar General” and “no Business Licence”. Latrae Rahming, the Prime Minister’s communications director, did not respond to messages seeking comment before press time.

Meanwhile, the Free National Movement (FNM) also seized on data from the same Ministry of Finance report showing that Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) debts owed to the Government increased by $57.1m or 33.5 percent during summer 2025. After remaining relatively stable for almost two years, the total sum outstanding rose from $170.3m at end-March 2025 to $225.8m just three months later, with a further slight jump to $227.4m at end-September.

Kwasi Thompson, the Opposition’s finance spokesman, in a statement asserted that the Government has “loaned” more than $140m to BPL in the three years since end-June 2022, when the state-owned utility’s debts to the taxpayer stood at $85m. Arguing that these advances have been “used to cover the cost of so-called rate cuts that the Government continues to promote as relief, he added: “Put simply, this government is using your taxes to pay for your so-called electricity relief, and this shift is saving Bahamian families nothing.”

Other sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested BPL’s indebtedness to the Government increased during summer 2025 because the latter provided advances to help cover a portion of the fuel charge component in consumer bills following the outcry over massive light bills. They added that other financial assistance may involve the taxpayer subsidising the revised BPL rate structure that gives consumers the first 200 kilowatt hours for free.

The Ministry of Finance’s debt report, published just ahead of today’s Golden Isles bye-election vote, reveals that total public sector debt increased by $307.9m during the three months to end-September 2025 to hit $13.55bn. This signals that a reasonably large fiscal deficit, measuring by how much government spending exceeded debt, occurred during this period although it should not be interpreted as an indication of the full-year outcome.

That is because the cyclical nature of the Government’s Budget cycle typically sees it catch up, and narrow, deficits during the revenue-rich months of the Budget’s second half. Still, the Ministry of Finance debt report noted that the increase was due solely to Bahamian dollar borrowing which rose by $354.1m - driven largely by a net $290.3m increase in Central Bank advances.

The report also revealed that close to $3bn in maturing Bahamian dollar, domestically held government debt has to be rolled over or refinanced during the nine months between October 2025 and June 2026 - the fiscal year’s end. Still, the Ministry of Finance said the $1.067bn external foreign currency bond issue that was placed with investors in May/June this year had generated an “extraordinary boost” by slashing 2025-2026 first quarter debt servicing costs by $109m.

“Following on June’s extraordinary boost associated with the central government’s external bond liability management exercise, debt service costs were appreciably lowered to an estimated $418.6m in the first quarter of 2025-2026. These costs were also $108.6m (20.6 percent) below the prior year’s level,” the Ministry of Finance asserted.

“Outstanding debt of the public sector was estimated at $13.551bn at end-September 2025, respective gains of $307.9m (2.3 percent) and $480.7m (3.7 percent) since end-June 2025 and end-September 2024…. The debt redemption forecast for the balance of the fiscal year includes reissuances of Treasury bills ($1.707bn), Treasury notes ($5.3m) and Central Bank advances ($326.5m).”

Some 28 percent of all government debt, or more than every $1 out of every $4 owed, is set to mature within one year. “The average time to maturity (ATM) receded to 6.32 years from 6.55 years at end-June 2025 2025, influenced by changes in both domestic and external components,” the Ministry of Finance said.

“By end-September 2025, 27.99 percent of the portfolio was set to mature within one year, up from 26.28 percent in the prior quarter, with the firming in the domestic component to 45.30 percent continuing to be explained by the large portfolio of short-term Treasury bills and notes. Reflecting scheduled loan redemptions, the proportion of external debt maturing within one year advanced on a quarterly basis to 5.53 percent from 5.15 percent.”

Amid all this, Mr Pintard seized on the report’s Carmichael Village Project Development Company revelations, which showed that its borrowing of taxpayer funds had risen from $10m at end-June 2025 to $20.2m as at end-September. He doubled down on previous criticisms and demands that the Government give a full accounting for, and explanation of, these transactions plus the $10.2m increase in advances during the past quarter.

“It is outrageous and unacceptable that, five months after I originally raised the issue, that the Bahamian people remain unaware of the full circumstances under which now $20m-plus has come into the possession of what appears to be a shell company that has no standing with the Registrar General, no Business Licence, no track record, no management and no shareholders of record,” the Opposition leader told Mr Davis.

“The Bahamian people can only conclude that your government has no acceptable explanation on the matter, and that you can offer no good reason why your government has never seen fit to advise the Bahamian people on this transaction and its rationale.

“We demand a fulsome explanation without delay. We expect that such an explanation would include details on how this so-called government business enterprise came to be; how it came to possess tens of millions of tax dollars; and why the Bahamian people were never informed initially regarding the creation of this public entity, how it is structured and managed, and why the Government has continued to hide the details of this transaction.”

The name Carmichael Village Project Development Company signals that this entity was created, likely as a special purpose vehicle (SPV), as a means to direct financing towards government housing developments in this and other areas while - at the same time - keeping the transactions off the Government’s books and preventing it from adding to the national debt.

Tribune Business records show that, in summer 2022, some $20m was secured from Jamaican finance house, Proven Wealth Ltd, to finance the 365-lot Renaissance at Carmichael subdivision with the transactions arranged through Bahamas-based alternative financing provider, Simplified Lending. The sum involved is the same as what has now been provided to Carmichael Village Project Development Company.

However, the financing was dogged by controversy over three years ago, after then-housing minister, Jobeth Coleby-Davis, told the House of Assembly “there is no agreement with Simplified Lending and Proven Wealth Management” from the Government’s perspective. This was just weeks after the deal was hailed with great fanfare at a press conference featuring both the Prime Minister and Mrs Coleby-Davis, who said it will set “a new standard” for housing public-private partnerships (PPPs).

At the time, Mrs Coleby-Davis said in written House of Assembly answers that the $20m loan proceeds had yet to be received and disbursed, with the monies set to finance the development and build-out of a 70-acre site set to feature 200 homes in its first phase at Renaissance at Carmichael.

Describing Carmichael Village Project Development Company as a “phantom entity” in a later statement, Mr Pintard blasted: “For months, I have pressed the Prime Minister to explain the first $10m sent to this entity. I brought the matter to Parliament in June and received no reply. I wrote to the Prime Minister in July seeking answers. Again, no response. I read that letter into the record in Parliament to ensure the public heard the questions for themselves, yet the silence continued.

“This so-called company is not registered with the Registrar General. It has no Business Licence, no VAT registration, no Board, no management and no employees. Yet more than $20m of the people’s money has been placed into it.

“Our questions remain: Who received this money? For what purpose? Why did the Government hide these transfers from the public? It is beyond unacceptable that more than $20m of the people’s money has been funnelled to an unknown entity with no explanation and rationale from the Government, even months after we brought this secret deal to light.”

Mr Thompson, meanwhile, argued that Bahamians are paying, as taxpayers, for the Government’s summer subsidy of the BPL fuel charge. “The Government had created the impression that it was absorbing these costs for the good of consumers. In reality, taxpayers are the ones paying for it,” he argued.

“The Prime Minister must now explain the full purpose of these loans to BPL. He must outline when the utility will pay it back and present a credible path for BPL that does not rely on constant borrowing to mask the true cost of electricity. The public deserves honesty, accountability and a sustainable plan for our energy future.”