Baha Mar Court Hearing Postponed

The Bahamian Supreme Court will wait until Aug. 19 to decide whether to force developer Baha Mar Ltd. out of the $3.5 billion Baha Mar Resort project.

The adjournment of the so-called “winding up” hearing came at the request of the Bahamas government, which learned at the 11th-hour that the three liquidators it had proposed from the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers had conflicts of interest, said Damian Gomez, the Bahamas' minister of legal affairs.

“Given that most of the larger accounting firms are likely to have a conflict, we wanted to make sure that the ones that we are looking at now don't have a conflict,” Gomez said.

PwC stated in a letter Thursday that is has done auditing work for the China State Construction Engineering Corp., which is the parent of Baha Mar contractor CCA Bahamas, Gomez said.

“We are reviewing other candidates and we will move forward,” he added.

The Bahamian government is seeking to have Baha Mar Ltd. removed from the project and replaced by a third-party liquidator, which would oversee the restructuring of the resort.

In a statement Friday afternoon, Baha Mar Ltd. said that in the aftermath of the day's hearing, it should be clear that the government's actions aren't serving the interests of the Bahamian people.

“The government’s entire application is misguided and without merit, and the whole process is abusive, oppressive and undertaken in bad faith. We look forward to demonstrating those facts to the court,” the statement reads.

The five-hotel Baha Mar Resort was originally scheduled to open by the end of 2014 with more than 2,200 new hotel rooms. There have been repeated delays amid a dispute between Baha Mar Ltd. and Chinese-owned contractor CCA Bahamas.

In late June, Baha Mar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a U.S. court. However, on July 22 Bahamian Justice Ian Winder rejected Baha Mar's request to have the bankruptcy filing recognized in the Bahamas.

A Baha Mar appeal of that ruling will be heard on Aug. 4, according to the Nassau Guardian.

Source: Travel Weekly