A double standard reflecting the breakdown in the rule of law. Its Ok for Fitzgerald to leak information in Parliament on Save the Bays and to flaunt a ruling by the Supreme Court ordering him not to disclose private information of Bahamian citizens and residents and not to further violate our newly minted Data Protection Act. But, on the other hand, its not Ok for the ICIJ to leak information on 175,000 Bahamian companies where a rogues list of international characters are stashing their ill gotten gains.
Lol...perhaps the National Intelligence Agency should investigate the ICIJ list to assist the G20 in their clamp down on international money laundering. Opps, they have no legislation so they are not sure what their mandate is, neither are their operations transparent to the Bahamian public. Just who are they mandated to investigate? Maybe a good time to utilize the NIA to victimize some Bahamians like in the olden days...better put on my yellow shirt.
OR, maybe the PLP will just put its head in the sand, cross their fingers and hope the whole thing just blows over like everything else in this country.
Its worth taking the time to read the article from the ICIJ.org website link above.
One of the most damning insights from the article is that the Bahamian corporate registry database which can be searched online legally is not up to date. For us as Bahamian's this shouldn't come as a surprise. Indeed I would be shocked if the Bahamian Government could keep a database of 175,000 companies up to date with the names of all shareholders, directors, registered offices, shares issued etc. It is beyond our government's capacity. Lol...we can hardly keep the lights on much less the computers.
Of even greater embarrassment is that corporate details at the registry seem to be left off of companies used by high profile global persons. Global regulatory interrogation of the database is even more frustrated by a government cost of $10 for each page. But even if you searched the database legally it will give you nonsense in some instances because its not up to date.
Add the parts of the puzzle together including no automatic tax exchange treaty, a recalcitrant financial services industry and bad record keeping (by design, incompetence, gross negligence or worse) and you should not be surprised when we are black listed again. This time it will be ten times worse than the 2000 black listing. Correspondent banks will walk away to reduce their risk of exposure to the Bahamas. The quasi regulated web shop industry banking through the BoB with the stated aim of the Central Bank to assimilate the industry into the financial system isn't constructive.
We as a country need to reverse course. Sadly the plp, fnm, dna and Independent Candidates don't even grasp the severity of our financial problems including spiraling government debt and crushing corporate taxes. I think its may be beyond their intellectual capacity...they just don't know that they don't know, neither do they recognize that there is a larger problem...so it is impossible for them to resolve the issue. The G20 will sort them out.
Its worth taking the time to read the article from the ICIJ.org website link above.
One of the most damning insights from the article is that the Bahamian corporate registry database which can be searched online legally is not up to date. For us as Bahamian's this shouldn't come as a surprise. Indeed I would be shocked if the Bahamian Government could keep a database of 175,000 companies up to date with the names of all shareholders, directors, registered offices, shares issued etc. It is beyond our government's capacity. Lol...we can hardly keep the lights on much less the computers.
Of even greater embarrassment is that corporate details at the registry seem to be left off of companies used by high profile global persons. Global regulatory interrogation of the database is even more frustrated by a government cost of $10 for each page. But even if you searched the database legally it will give you nonsense in some instances because its not up to date.
Add the parts of the puzzle together including no automatic tax exchange treaty, a recalcitrant financial services industry and bad record keeping (by design, incompetence, gross negligence or worse) and you should not be surprised when we are black listed again. This time it will be ten times worse than the 2000 black listing. Correspondent banks will walk away to reduce their risk of exposure to the Bahamas. The quasi regulated web shop industry banking through the BoB with the stated aim of the Central Bank to assimilate the industry into the financial system isn't constructive.
We as a country need to reverse course. Sadly the plp, fnm, dna and Independent Candidates don't even grasp the severity of our financial problems including spiraling government debt and crushing corporate taxes. I think its may be beyond their intellectual capacity...they just don't know that they don't know, neither do they recognize that there is a larger problem...so it is impossible for them to resolve the issue. The G20 will sort them out.
News flash to Bahamian Elites...get your money out of the country as soon as possible before the downgrade, devaluation, more draconian exchange controls, income tax, inheritance tax, large deficits, more government real estate purchase, more bailouts for BoB, more transfers to Resolve, more NewCo bonds, more SPV, more debt debt debt etc. etc. etc.
Tourism down, people go ta cuba. lower cost, better service, less bumpy roads, lights work, less crime.
Small man cryin wit all de VAT accounting, import firms cryin with all da fines for bad paperwork, big man keepin he mout shut before he get victimized. PLP mad mad, say yinna ain grateful to dem.
The Government is under pressure from international agencies to divest and privatize many of its functions but is reluctant to do so and therefore is taking numerous half steps such as BPL and Newco (Cable SPV) that fools no one and will fail.
The SPVs is a rouse to fool wealthy Bahahamians to invest large amounts of money with the PLP. Like the airport, Bahamasair, water and sewerage etc. they will all fail and rich Bahamians will loose their investment.
Black listing here we come...no income tax, no estate tax, no automatic exchange of information treaty, state of the art corporate, foundation and trust laws all design to obfuscate beneficial ownership, corporate directors, corporate shareholders, no register of beneficial owners, 400 to 600 web shops with no KYC, slow judicial system, foreign lawyers can't practice in the Bahamas, corrupt government, Chinese all over the place, custom duties....put on your seat-belts.
OK, lets see. The government has gross annual revenues of $2 billion but can't find $20 million to purchase a lousy building?
Ok, lets see. Why would the government want to purchase another old and tired building in the first place? With all the vacant office space from all the offshore banks leaving town they could easily rent space?
Ok, lets see. Since the government keeps all their buildings in a very nasty state (e.g. post office and ministry of education etc.) why would they want to own and manage another building and keep that nasty as well? Understand the A/c at the South Beach clinic hasn't been working for ages.
Fidelity and Providence will be pulled out of government bond issuance because they provide feedback to the public on exactly what is going on. Once Rolle starts issuing bonds from within the Central Bank we won't know the rate of bond issuance until we wake up one day and the national debt is over $8 billion.
Besides Rolle needs to issue a bunch of new bonds to re-capitalize BoB. How much is needed to recapitalize the Bank of the Web Shops? $40 million? $60 million? We will never know.
Bahamian investors need to wake up and really consider the risk involved in purchasing government bonds which are rated one notch above junk.
I guess Bahamians will find out like they did with BoB stock, BoB preferred stock, Cable Bahamas stock and soon to be joining the list Cable Bahamas pref stock...once the dividends are halted but the price on BISX hasn't changed...and suddenly one day the price collapses and Davies has nothing to say.
With the national debt increasing by $2 billion to over $7 billion under the PLP, transparency would really will be quiet inconvenient for them. So if debt can be issued without Michael Anderson chatting about it all the time, then all the better.
Also, adding in non accrued government pension liabilities of over $2 billion I think the PLP cronies are over joyed that they are all over retirement age as there certainly won't be any money for young people by the time they retire in 2050.
Don't think voting for the FNM will solve anything. The first thing the FNM will say once they take office is how "shocked they are at how broke the government is". Next the FNM will say they need to come up with a Strategic Plan to resolve the financial problems, the FNM's Strategic Plan to deal with the debt will take 2 years to produce and in they mean time they will blame the PLP while they increase the debt from $7 billion to $9 billion. By the time they leave office in 2022 the debt will be over $10 billion and we will be forced to value.
The country will then be very upset with the FNM and then re-elect the PLP...and the virtuous cycle begins again...but this time Alfred Sears, the new PLP leader, will be shocked at the $10 billion debt the FNM accrued.
With the Central Bank taking back the full issuance and control of government bond market the "virtuous" circle is now complete and the fix is in.
Central Bank issues debt with no prospectus, no government audit --> Funds go to the General Fund -> Allows Government to consistently spend more than it receives in taxes --> No independent audits = no accountability
National Issues funds --> transferred to BoB --> Bob transfers bad loans out of sight at Resolve run by you know who
BoB - banker to the web boys --> political contributions to you know who --> no campaign finance laws = no accountability
And you are shocked that the international community has downgraded us to one level above junk. Next year we will be junk.
observer2 says...
OK, got it.
A double standard reflecting the breakdown in the rule of law. Its Ok for Fitzgerald to leak information in Parliament on Save the Bays and to flaunt a ruling by the Supreme Court ordering him not to disclose private information of Bahamian citizens and residents and not to further violate our newly minted Data Protection Act. But, on the other hand, its not Ok for the ICIJ to leak information on 175,000 Bahamian companies where a rogues list of international characters are stashing their ill gotten gains.
Lol...perhaps the National Intelligence Agency should investigate the ICIJ list to assist the G20 in their clamp down on international money laundering. Opps, they have no legislation so they are not sure what their mandate is, neither are their operations transparent to the Bahamian public. Just who are they mandated to investigate? Maybe a good time to utilize the NIA to victimize some Bahamians like in the olden days...better put on my yellow shirt.
OR, maybe the PLP will just put its head in the sand, cross their fingers and hope the whole thing just blows over like everything else in this country.
On Govt ‘lacks credibility’ to probe Registrar’s 1.3m document leak
Posted 22 September 2016, 4:03 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
https://www.icij.org/offshore/former-eu…
Its worth taking the time to read the article from the ICIJ.org website link above.
One of the most damning insights from the article is that the Bahamian corporate registry database which can be searched online legally is not up to date. For us as Bahamian's this shouldn't come as a surprise. Indeed I would be shocked if the Bahamian Government could keep a database of 175,000 companies up to date with the names of all shareholders, directors, registered offices, shares issued etc. It is beyond our government's capacity. Lol...we can hardly keep the lights on much less the computers.
Of even greater embarrassment is that corporate details at the registry seem to be left off of companies used by high profile global persons. Global regulatory interrogation of the database is even more frustrated by a government cost of $10 for each page. But even if you searched the database legally it will give you nonsense in some instances because its not up to date.
Add the parts of the puzzle together including no automatic tax exchange treaty, a recalcitrant financial services industry and bad record keeping (by design, incompetence, gross negligence or worse) and you should not be surprised when we are black listed again. This time it will be ten times worse than the 2000 black listing. Correspondent banks will walk away to reduce their risk of exposure to the Bahamas. The quasi regulated web shop industry banking through the BoB with the stated aim of the Central Bank to assimilate the industry into the financial system isn't constructive.
We as a country need to reverse course. Sadly the plp, fnm, dna and Independent Candidates don't even grasp the severity of our financial problems including spiraling government debt and crushing corporate taxes. I think its may be beyond their intellectual capacity...they just don't know that they don't know, neither do they recognize that there is a larger problem...so it is impossible for them to resolve the issue. The G20 will sort them out.
On Bahamas ‘No. 1 target’ via Panama-style leak
Posted 22 September 2016, 3:08 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
https://www.icij.org/offshore/former-eu…
Its worth taking the time to read the article from the ICIJ.org website link above.
One of the most damning insights from the article is that the Bahamian corporate registry database which can be searched online legally is not up to date. For us as Bahamian's this shouldn't come as a surprise. Indeed I would be shocked if the Bahamian Government could keep a database of 175,000 companies up to date with the names of all shareholders, directors, registered offices, shares issued etc. It is beyond our government's capacity. Lol...we can hardly keep the lights on much less the computers.
Of even greater embarrassment is that corporate details at the registry seem to be left off of companies used by high profile global persons. Global regulatory interrogation of the database is even more frustrated by a government cost of $10 for each page. But even if you searched the database legally it will give you nonsense in some instances because its not up to date.
Add the parts of the puzzle together including no automatic tax exchange treaty, a recalcitrant financial services industry and bad record keeping (by design, incompetence, gross negligence or worse) and you should not be surprised when we are black listed again. This time it will be ten times worse than the 2000 black listing. Correspondent banks will walk away to reduce their risk of exposure to the Bahamas. The quasi regulated web shop industry banking through the BoB with the stated aim of the Central Bank to assimilate the industry into the financial system isn't constructive.
We as a country need to reverse course. Sadly the plp, fnm, dna and Independent Candidates don't even grasp the severity of our financial problems including spiraling government debt and crushing corporate taxes. I think its may be beyond their intellectual capacity...they just don't know that they don't know, neither do they recognize that there is a larger problem...so it is impossible for them to resolve the issue. The G20 will sort them out.
On 1.3m files leak in Bahamas Papers
Posted 22 September 2016, 12:54 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
News flash to Bahamian Elites...get your money out of the country as soon as possible before the downgrade, devaluation, more draconian exchange controls, income tax, inheritance tax, large deficits, more government real estate purchase, more bailouts for BoB, more transfers to Resolve, more NewCo bonds, more SPV, more debt debt debt etc. etc. etc.
Tourism down, people go ta cuba. lower cost, better service, less bumpy roads, lights work, less crime.
Small man cryin wit all de VAT accounting, import firms cryin with all da fines for bad paperwork, big man keepin he mout shut before he get victimized. PLP mad mad, say yinna ain grateful to dem.
Dey comin fa ya tings real real soon.
Government dem broke broke.
On ‘Bahamian elite’ urged to acquire upscale GB hotel
Posted 21 September 2016, 5:16 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
Chipman is an retired accountant not a crooked rowdy politician. Leave him be.
On Chipman post uncertain while FNM use seat as ‘bait’
Posted 21 September 2016, 5:11 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
The Enron SPV analogy is appropriate.
The Government is under pressure from international agencies to divest and privatize many of its functions but is reluctant to do so and therefore is taking numerous half steps such as BPL and Newco (Cable SPV) that fools no one and will fail.
The SPVs is a rouse to fool wealthy Bahahamians to invest large amounts of money with the PLP. Like the airport, Bahamasair, water and sewerage etc. they will all fail and rich Bahamians will loose their investment.
On Govt seeking $20m for UBS House buy
Posted 21 September 2016, 6:46 a.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
Black listing here we come...no income tax, no estate tax, no automatic exchange of information treaty, state of the art corporate, foundation and trust laws all design to obfuscate beneficial ownership, corporate directors, corporate shareholders, no register of beneficial owners, 400 to 600 web shops with no KYC, slow judicial system, foreign lawyers can't practice in the Bahamas, corrupt government, Chinese all over the place, custom duties....put on your seat-belts.
On Bahamas urged: ‘Avoid’ EU blacklisting threat
Posted 20 September 2016, 3:18 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
OK, lets see. The government has gross annual revenues of $2 billion but can't find $20 million to purchase a lousy building?
Ok, lets see. Why would the government want to purchase another old and tired building in the first place? With all the vacant office space from all the offshore banks leaving town they could easily rent space?
Ok, lets see. Since the government keeps all their buildings in a very nasty state (e.g. post office and ministry of education etc.) why would they want to own and manage another building and keep that nasty as well? Understand the A/c at the South Beach clinic hasn't been working for ages.
Fidelity and Providence will be pulled out of government bond issuance because they provide feedback to the public on exactly what is going on. Once Rolle starts issuing bonds from within the Central Bank we won't know the rate of bond issuance until we wake up one day and the national debt is over $8 billion.
Besides Rolle needs to issue a bunch of new bonds to re-capitalize BoB. How much is needed to recapitalize the Bank of the Web Shops? $40 million? $60 million? We will never know.
Bahamian investors need to wake up and really consider the risk involved in purchasing government bonds which are rated one notch above junk.
I guess Bahamians will find out like they did with BoB stock, BoB preferred stock, Cable Bahamas stock and soon to be joining the list Cable Bahamas pref stock...once the dividends are halted but the price on BISX hasn't changed...and suddenly one day the price collapses and Davies has nothing to say.
On Govt seeking $20m for UBS House buy
Posted 20 September 2016, 3:03 p.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
Banker you are correct, well said.
With the national debt increasing by $2 billion to over $7 billion under the PLP, transparency would really will be quiet inconvenient for them. So if debt can be issued without Michael Anderson chatting about it all the time, then all the better.
Also, adding in non accrued government pension liabilities of over $2 billion I think the PLP cronies are over joyed that they are all over retirement age as there certainly won't be any money for young people by the time they retire in 2050.
Don't think voting for the FNM will solve anything. The first thing the FNM will say once they take office is how "shocked they are at how broke the government is". Next the FNM will say they need to come up with a Strategic Plan to resolve the financial problems, the FNM's Strategic Plan to deal with the debt will take 2 years to produce and in they mean time they will blame the PLP while they increase the debt from $7 billion to $9 billion. By the time they leave office in 2022 the debt will be over $10 billion and we will be forced to value.
The country will then be very upset with the FNM and then re-elect the PLP...and the virtuous cycle begins again...but this time Alfred Sears, the new PLP leader, will be shocked at the $10 billion debt the FNM accrued.
On Government debt issuing shake-up
Posted 20 September 2016, 9:40 a.m. Suggest removal
observer2 says...
With the Central Bank taking back the full issuance and control of government bond market the "virtuous" circle is now complete and the fix is in.
Central Bank issues debt with no prospectus, no government audit --> Funds go to the General Fund -> Allows Government to consistently spend more than it receives in taxes --> No independent audits = no accountability
National Issues funds --> transferred to BoB --> Bob transfers bad loans out of sight at Resolve run by you know who
BoB - banker to the web boys --> political contributions to you know who --> no campaign finance laws = no accountability
And you are shocked that the international community has downgraded us to one level above junk. Next year we will be junk.
On Government debt issuing shake-up
Posted 20 September 2016, 8:26 a.m. Suggest removal