Former PLP MP Leslie Miller Defends $30M Lease Payment Deal

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The issue came to light in an article published by the Tribune newspaper on Monday.

According to the article, the government allegedly authorized an arrangement to offset more than $30M in debt owed by Miller’s Summer Winds Plaza companies, including millions in real property taxes against rent payments allegedly owed under government lease agreements.

However, Miller fired back, telling host Shenique Miller the deal did not come from favoritism, and also insisting that the agreements were approved legally through Parliament after the government approached him about renting space for public offices.

Leslie Miller – Former Member of Parliament, PLP

“Robinhood had closed down in 2012. We were approached by the government of the Bahamas. Fine, do you want to rent? We have a place there. Robinhood just closed. One beautiful place. Everything intact in the building. Air condition, the whole nine yards, in A-1 condition. The prime minister got up in Parliament and requested that Parliament allow him the opportunity to rent the premises that were available.”

Miller adding the deal lost momentum after the Free National Movement took office in 2017.

By 2018, under the Minnis administration, Miller sued the government for breach of contract over plans to rent space at Summer Winds Plaza off Tonique Williams-Darling Highway for various government departments.

Miller says despite what he described as early assurances from former prime minister Hubert Minnis, the agreements were never honored or officially terminated.

Leslie Miller – Former Member of Parliament, PLP

“Prime minister Minnis assured us that he would go ahead and complete the job and get it done. However, his minister of finance refused to see us, [saying] “I’m not gonna see you,” we don’t have any discussion on it. In five years, we never had a discussion on it. But they never canceled the leases.”

Miller also defended the size of the debt, saying much of it grew over the years due to interest on loans taken to finance the project.

He says the original loan, taken through Bank of the Bahamas was around $12M, but ballooned over more than a decade.

Leslie Miller – Former Member of Parliament, PLP

“ We got a loan from the Bank of the Bahamas. In fact, the Bank of Bahamas, the situation was chaotic back then, [where] the Central Bank was going to close them down. We went and showed them that they overcharged us on our loan by $3.2 million, which they accepted that they were wrong in doing so.”

“And the interest rate is what brought it to that. We borrowed some $12 million to begin with, and the interest just keep climbing and climbing. Don’t forget, that was 13 years.”