Bahamas Opposition Leaders Launch Attack In PM's Absence

Mandy Robinson, Tax-news.com, London

31 July 2000

Prime Minister Hubert A Ingraham is currently in the United States and Canada on a 12 day whirlwind damage limitation mission in which he hopes to remove the Bahamas from an OECD blacklist of ‘harmful’ tax havens. However, in Ingraham’s absence, opposition leaders Dr Bernard Nottage of the Coalition for Democratic Reform and Perry Christie of the Progressive Liberal Party have both expressed concerns over remarks the PM made on the trip.

In a statement from Washington DC, Ingraham claimed the actions of the Progressive Liberal Party during their administration in the 1980s had contributed to the current crisis. He remarked 'the abuse of The Bahamas financial services sector during the 1980s and the failure of the government of the day to act decisively to protect the industry have contributed in a large measure to the perception and the image of The Bahamas in any part of the world while the PLP was in power.'

Mr Christie responded: 'Just when we thought that Prime Minister Ingraham had grown in office sufficiently to rise above partisan politics in a time of national crisis, he has demonstrated yet again that he has one response when pushed to the wall: blame the Progressive Liberal Party’. Christie continued to point out that, during his party’s entire administration, The Bahamas was never blacklisted as a tax haven and did not incur any advisories: 'this kind of assault on our economy never happened during the PLP’s 25 years of governance.'

Nottage asserts that there were warning signs which the government should have noted and responded to earlier. He has also voiced fears regarding the Prime Minister’s assurances that there will be no negative consequences for the Bahamas as a result of his trip. Ingraham has claimed that the way to redeem the Island’s reputation as a respectable offshore tax haven is to promise transparency and accountability in government fiscal legislation. Dr Nottage said: 'the issue is what will be the effect on our system of taxation. The issue is whether the Prime Minister and his Minister of Finance [Sir William Allen] are able to negotiate a set of conditions which will preserve the sovereignty and dignity of the Bahamas and at the same time benefit all Bahamians.'

In response to the attack by the two opposition leaders, Ingraham expressed his dismay that "patriotic" politicians have blasted their national leader in his absence, particularly when his mission is of vital importance to the island and requested that the opposition unites in supporting his quest. Dr Nottage, however, argued that 'we would be irresponsible indeed and possibly unpatriotic, if we allowed the government to continue along that road without alerting the Bahamian people to the potential dangers.' And Christie retorted 'how can Mr Ingraham on the one hand say this is a time for all Bahamians to stand together and on the other hand push the blame for the national crisis to the door of a government that he defeated almost a decade ago?' Both parties have also lambasted the government for keeping them in the dark when tackling the issue.

In Washington the Prime Minister has met with Attorney General, Janet Reno, and Secretary to the Treasury, Lawrence Summers. His agenda will involve meeting various senators, congressional committee members and House of Representatives members both in the US and Canada.

The OECD has given the Bahamas one year to resolve the regulations and accompanying legislation that is deficient. The Bahamian Government has decided to amend some key pieces of legislation as soon as possible, which has resulted in a shorter summer recess than usual.

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