The controversy of the Korean boats seems to be nearing an end.
Reportedly, the 15 vessels moored at the dock in Morgan’s Bluff, North Andros, have been ordered returned to the Korean owners.
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Alfred Gray told the Guardian Tuesday that the boats may be leaving the country within a few days. He said the Korean businessmen, who claimed to be the rightful owners, satisfied the court and government of their ownership with the documentation that were submitted.
“Instead of a long legal battle, I think, the Attorney General’s Office advised the Customs Department, which led the charge in the court matter, to have the court consent to having the vessels returned to the true owners, and that they would as part of that, leave the jurisdiction,” Minister Gray said, just minutes after leaving the morning session of a cabinet meeting.
The boats were brought into the country under a cloud of suspicion in October last year by Netsiwill Holdings Ltd., a company reportedly owned by Earlin Williams, a former consultant at the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation. Controversy surrounding the boats came to a head a month later, in November, after Bahamian fisherman spoke out against their arrival and proposed fishing methods.
The boats were then ordered to leave the country and were subsequently taken into the custody of Customs Department.
In a December interview Mr Williams insisted that his company legally owned the boats. He reported then that the government had not put in writing under what authority it acted in ordering the boats to leave the jurisdiction.
At that time, he also claimed that Bahamian fishermen from Spanish Wells, Marsh Harbour and North Eleuthera, expressed an interest in purchasing the Korean-manufactured vessels.
And last month, Bamboo Town representative Tennyson Wells suggested that the government allow local fishermen to purchase the vessels to further develop the industry.
Mr Gray said he is aware that several Bahamians are hoping to purchase these boats before they leave the country, but he views this as an attempt to circumvent the law and undermine the entire purpose of confiscating the boats.
“The boats will leave as was ordered by the court and it is expected that they do so as quickly as it is practical to do so. When the boats leave The Bahamas and go back to Korea or wherever they take them, and Bahamians want to go and buy them in the proper way, and they can show that they have paid for them and the ownership of those vessels by Bahamians is clear, then I don’t know that the government could stop them from bringing them back in the right way,” he explained.
Former BAIC chairman Sidney Stubbs disclosed at a press conference last November that fishermen in North Andros were granted a $2.5 million mortgage for 15 boats from a Korean company to further develop the fishing industry. He said the funds were made available by Neneka Bahamas Ltd., a company owned and operated by Tae Jing Suk, a Korean-born American, to Netsiwill Holding, a company in Andros.
Minister Gray said the government would never have opposed the ownership of those boats by Bahamian backed Netsiwill Holdings if they had actually paid for them.
The minister said the government took issue with the agreement between Netsiwill and Nettica Bahamas Limited which would have suspended payment for the vessels for a period of 20 years.
“Obviously, that was not acceptable, because in 20 years not one single one of the vessels would be any good. We know that. We can’t hardly expect that any boats would last 20 years before they were paid for. We saw that as an affront to the law,” Minister Gray said.
However, he noted that the court action which returned the boats to the owners, does not apply to the motor vessel, which remain in Freeport.
When contacted, North Andros administrator for Local Government Huntley Christie reported that the 15 Korean vessels were still moored at the dock.
“As far as I know, they are still there at the dock although I haven’t been down there today (Tuesday). But as of Monday they were still there,” Mr Christie said. He explained that the tension that brewed between the local fishermen and the Koreans were “cooled down” over time.
“Everybody is expecting that those boats would move and go back to Korea, and that was the government’s position and people have accepted that. We want them moved out of the port,” he said.
Source: Keva Lightbourne, The Nassau Guardian
