Episode 6/8: Halls Pond Cay and Czech scumbag Victor Kožený
Solo SUP-venture Around 365 Islands of Exuma Cay Chain (450km)
There are many islands along the Exuma cay chain that are privately owned by ultra-rich individuals including David Copperfield, Nicolas Cage, Aga Khan, Johnny Depp, John Malone, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and others. I camped on some of those cays but I never had any problems with anyone. First, all beaches in the Bahamas are public up to the high water mark, and second, I was respectful of peoples’ privacy and always found a secluded beach without any development to camp on.
Halls Pond Cay is one of the private islands located within the ECLSP. When I was doing my research for the trip, it was a bit of a surprise to find that the cay was purchased in the 1990s by a notorious Czech financial criminal and fugitive, Viktor Kožený! Ha! What really angered me though was the fact that Kožený started to destroy the island with his “development” plans, and that he blatantly disregarded ECLSP rules and conservation agreements. What a sour loser! “Dude, if you steal money, at least don’t act like a total tool. What an embarrassment you are! Especially for Czechs like me.” Luckily, Halls Pond Cay was saved by the vociferous outcry of activists, and as luck would have it, I personally met with one of them. The Bahamian government ordered Kožený to stop construction, restore the island to its original state, and then reclaimed Hall’s Pond Cay for the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park.
Viktor Kožený is sometimes referred to as a “pirate of Prague.” Don’t be fooled though, he isn’t a pirate. He is just a repulsive scumbag and a fugitive financier who stole hundreds of millions of dollars from hardworking people of the Czech Republic during the privatization that followed the fall of the communist regime. As this “venue” turned out to be profitable for him, he later pulled a similar scam on American investors during privatization of a state owned oil company in Azerbaijan. In the end, Kožený’s bribes of the Azerbaijani government didn’t work, the deal fell through, and he ran away again with hundreds of millions of investor’s money. He settled in the Bahamas and ignored feeble attempts by the Czech authorities to bring him to justice. The United States issued an international warrant on Kožený but the corrupt Bahamian government refused to extradite him.
According to the latest news, Kožený remains on Interpol’s most-wanted list and still lives in the gated community of Lyford Cay, New Providence, Bahamas. While he still maintains his prominent address, it is in fact his jail. People in the community know his history and have absolutely zero respect for such a piece of trash. I happened to meet one more person who claimed to know Viktor personally. “After I learned where his wealth came from, he was not allowed into my house.”
Come on Bahamian government, revisit the case, and do the right thing!
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