A recently published round of mandatory financial disclosure filings for Bahamian politicians has sparked heated political friction, with Opposition Leader Michael Pintard calling out a striking surge in Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper’s declared net worth and pressing the prime minister to review the assets of senior ruling party officials.
According to the newly released documents, Cooper’s reported personal net worth now sits at $28 million — a nearly 90 percent jump from his 2021 declaration of $14.8 million, and a more than threefold increase from the $7.9 million he reported in 2017. Pintard highlighted this dramatic growth in comments to reporters on Wednesday, arguing that the size of the increase, when paired with what he calls inconsistent disclosure practices among the ruling Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), demands internal scrutiny from the country’s top executive.
“One cabinet minister saw his net worth double in a single term? That’s an extraordinary gain,” Pintard told reporters. “I truly believe that if a government chooses to, it can investigate these disclosure filings. I would recommend the prime minister take a closer look at a few of his colleagues. If someone can double their wealth in one term, they should have been the minister of finance!”
Pintard also drew a direct contrast between the opposition Free National Movement (FNM) and the ruling PLP, claiming FNM members have always fulfilled their annual disclosure requirements on time, submitting complete details of the prior year’s assets and liabilities without delay. He accused the PLP of operating under a persistent “pattern of darkness” when it comes to financial transparency for its elected officials.
Notably, Pintard’s critique included a false claim that no PLP parliamentarian had ever submitted their required disclosures. Local newspaper The Tribune, which first reported on the disclosure filings, has previously confirmed that multiple members of Prime Minister Philip Davis’ administration have submitted the required financial documents in past years.