With every new revelation surrounding Top Notch Builders, Minister of Finance Michael Halkitis’s explanation becomes less believable.
What began as questions about his role in the company have now become serious questions about his association with the person who has asserted himself as the company’s owner.
The latest evidence now before the courts shows that Eric Gardiner was able to withdraw $20,000 in cash from Top Notch Builders’ bank account the day before the 2026 General Election, despite not appearing as a director or officer of the company in the company’s official filings.
We remind the Bahamian people that Michael Halkitis was not merely a consultant, as he initially suggested. He served as President of Top Notch Builders—the company’s chief executive officer. As President, he has acknowledged that he helped organize and structure the company.
That position carries real responsibility.
The President of a company is expected to know who controls its finances, who has authority over its bank accounts, and who makes the important decisions on behalf of the company.
The latest evidence leaves only one credible possibility.
As President, Minister Halkitis clearly knows that Eric Gardiner continued to exercise control over the company as a key signatory on its bank account despite not appearing in its corporate records.
The obvious question is why the company’s formal structure did not accurately reflect who was exercising real control.
This cannot inspire confidence in someone entrusted today with safeguarding the financial affairs of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
Minister Halkitis is a certified financial professional. He understands beneficial ownership rules, corporate governance obligations, and the importance of proper due diligence better than most. Those standards do not become optional simply because the questions are politically inconvenient.
This is no longer simply about one company.
It is about whether the individual responsible for managing the country’s finances exercised the same diligence and judgment when entrusted with significant responsibilities in the private sector.
The Bahamian people deserve clear answers.
Did Minister Halkitis know Eric Gardiner continued to exercise control over Top Notch Builders?
If not, how could someone serving as President fail to know who had access to and control over the company’s bank accounts?
The Davis administration cannot continue to spin away legitimate concerns while asking Bahamians to trust them with the nation’s finances.
There cannot be one standard for ordinary Bahamians and another for Cabinet Ministers.
The Minister owes the country the full truth, and his resignation along with it.
Michael C. Pintard, MP
Leader of The Official Opposition
Leader of the Free National Movement