Bahamas Permit Update: Dribble From Dr.Tinker

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Joel Ruth shared a link.

10 hours ago ·http://www.tribune242.com/news/2014/apr/09/treasure-salvage-licence-hopes-are-wrecked/

From a source close to the Vice-Prime Minister of The Bahamas, who sees him regularly on a social basis, regarding this article and the statements of Dr. Tinker: "Tinker is just appeasing his political bosses and attempting to divert attention away from their failings on this matter and Tinker himself has nothing to do with these unexplained delays in permit issuing. What he says is mindless dribble and devoid of all the facts relating to the reality of the December 2011 amendments to the Antiquities Acts with its new provisions and sureties which do in fact provide remedies and procedures to address the past abuses of twenty years ago but which Mr. Tinker now holds up as a justification for what he now also incorrectly terms " a continuum of the moratorium from years past." However, in the course of dribbling on and on and being intellectually dishonest in the process, he fails to mention that The Government of the Bahamas actually amended it own laws in December 2011 and did so for the very purpose of establishing safeguards and remedies to prevent the very types of abuse now currently being tossed about by Tinker which had occurred 20 years earlier during a period characterized by a lack of regulation but which the 2011 amendments have completely rectified. Subsequent to these new law improvements in late 2011, the Bahamian Government early 2012 then publically solicited applicants interested in shipwreck recovery to apply under their new laws using the new stringent applications all now subject to a rigorous new criteria such as passing criminal back ground checks, posting $100,000 bonds, having an archaeologist and Bahamian police present, owning the right vessels and equipment and being able to meet all manner of levels of financial responsibility and competence. The applicants were in turn reviewed and qualified under these new more stringent criteria and policies by a committee at the AMMC whereby the qualifying applications would be sent to the Prime Minister for final approval and permit signatures. The Bahamian Government further collected thousands of dollars from applicants who responded in good faith while, in so doing, also causing said private individuals, both Bahamian citizens and others from all over the world, to spend months and years re scheduling their time and spending even more hundreds of thousands of dollars getting ready for what they had been promised would be a ninety day process and all that because they believed what had been represented to them. The sorry truth is however that the first tranche of AMMC approved applications still sit after two years unviewed in the Prime Ministers' office for the simple reason that it is very low priority for the Prime Minister for the further simple unspoken reason is that he really doesn’t want any more foreigners here, especially if they are white, period and thus those searching for higher reasons or understandings behind the delays are only taxing their minds."
 

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