You raise a lot of interesting and very valid points. However, so many of these comments are an attack on the messenger (many of these aspersions concerning Mr. Wilson may be perfectly true) while neglecting to acknowledge that the essence of what Mr. Wilson says are also true. The Bank of the Bahamas turnaround has been tremendous and should be celebrated. They were too big to fail, received public preferential treatment but they made so far a resounding success of that opportunity. Also despite its drawbacks BISX is a wonderful opportunity for wealth creation for ordinary Bahamians. It is possible starting with very little to invest in BISX and generate over a period of time fantastic returns. I know of a person who started from nothing and through diligent, wise investing in BISX companies over a relatively short period of time was able to retire at a very young age. I know many people who work hard and are broke. Sadly working hard does not guarantee success. The secret is not to work harder but smarter, and a key to wealth creation in our Bahamas is to save and to smartly invest in wealth creation opportunities like equity shares available on BISX, just like Mr. Wilson said.

This rebate is joke, how about providing electricity that does not fail when we have a 20mph wind?

Everything works in Long Island, but everything is extremely fragile, hanging on by a thread and can fail and usually does at anytime. No Bahamian company is reliable, we have purified water, electricity, atms, cell, internet but you never know from one day to the next if they will be working. Only one thing works reliably and that is Starlink.

This must be some kind of joke. Mr Bhatti can not be serious. BTC in the family islands is a complete joke as Starlink is ubiquitous and I say good riddance to BTC and their slow speed and constant loss of service. Starlink works so well you don’t even think about it, it’s always there and always on and working so fast no one is going back to BTC as they don’t have a reliable reasonably price alternative to Starlink. It is already game over in broadband in the family islands. As soon as URCA allows Starlink to offer cell satellite service it will be game over in cell service too. BTC as a company is a dead man walking.

Wait for what? An exhaustive 60 plus page prospectus has already been disclosed. Exhaustive in almost every respect save who are the principals of Verdant and what have they done to own 37.5% of the shares. The numbers above are not in dispute and speak for themselves. The most Verdant could have paid was $3.7 mill for 37.5% of the company ( they may have paid nothing for as much as we know) yet the Bahamian retail investor is being asked to pay $32.5 mill for 25% of the company. This is inherently unfair. You tell me if that is corrupt?

Obtained the 37.5% equity in private placement but the question is for how much? The entire project is $136.2 million of which $132.5 million is being raised from other Bahamian investors ($100m pref and $32.5 million equity) so the most Verdant could have possibly paid was $3.7mill for 37.5% equity! We don’t even know if they paid that much as perhaps the Turkish company paid some of the $3.7 mill. Now it is proposed that the Bahamian retail public pay $32.5 mill for just 25% of the equity. This deal reeks of favoritism and opaqueness.

This offering lacks transparency and should not be approved as is by the Securities Commission. Who are the shareholders of Verdant? Why in an exhaustive prospectus were these details not provided and hardly a passing mention of Verdant principals made? What is Verdant doing to justify owning 37.5% of the shares? Are these politically connected persons who had these shares simply given to them while at the same time asking Bahamian investors to fund almost the entirety of this project?

The online platform has been operational for over a month now.

Good riddance to Gibson, long islanders deserve better.

A small start. An even better plan is to raise vat on all sugary drinks and fast food to 20%.