News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Nov. 24, 2020: A Caribbean minister of government has been accused of involvement in a conspiracy that led to two companies being defrauded of some USD 20 million, court documents reveal.
Alpha Aviation Limited and Advanced Aviation Limited allege that Randy Butler, Sky Bahamas Airlines Limited and Aviation Oversight Group Ltd., together with the Bahamas’ Finance Minister, Kevin Peter Turnquest, conspired “wrongfully and with intent to injure” those companies and/or “to cause loss to them by unlawful means and/or to enrich themselves…”
The court document alleges that these fraudulent acts occurred between 2008 and 2017. Alpha and Advanced allege that Turnquest, who was a director and manager of those companies, and the other “conspirators”, dishonestly caused them to pay away millions of dollars in “bogus loans” and fraudulent invoices and/or book entries.
Turnquest has said he is appalled that his standing as a public servant made calling his name in this dispute between his former business partners worthwhile, and added that his focus remains on his work to improve and modernize the management of the country’s economy and public finances.
However, Bahamas’ Opposition and Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) leader, Phillip Davis, has said that Turnquest’s statement was “arrogantly dismissive” and he should resign.
Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Dr. Hubert Minnis, said Monday that his Cabinet is “deliberating” over the issue that is now “a court matter right now.
