The troubled Baha Mar casino project in the Bahamas isn’t likely to open this year and rumors are flying that Malaysian conglomerate Genting Group is looking to buy out the original developer.

Developer Baha Mar Ltd. has been trying to birth its $3.5b resort project on the Bahamian island of New Providence since 2008. When the global economy crashed, Chinese state-owned firms China Exim Bank and China Construction America (CCA) rode to the rescue and construction began in February 2011. Since then, the project has encountered fresh delays and the search for scapegoats has sparked a vicious battle of he-said/she-said between the developer and the Chinese firms.

On Monday, a Bahamian gov’t source told local media outlet The Tribune that Baha Mar Ltd. does “not have the cash to finish the project or pay the contractor.” In March, the Tribune reported that CCA “admitted they slowed down” work on the project because it hadn’t been paid for work done in February.

Monday also saw a tabloid report that Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie had struck a deal that would see Genting acquire a 51% stake in the project. Baha Mar Ltd. senior VP of gov’t affairs Robert Sands subsequently claimed there was “absolutely no truth to [the Genting] story and I categorically deny it.”