There have been several announcements by the Government of Anguilla about agreements regarding the proposed sale of Cap Juluca which, for a long time, had been promulgated as the “flagship property of the island’s upmarket tourism industry.
The previous decision was to have been realised towards the end of September, following a tax write-off in the Anguilla House of Assembly, but the sale did not materialise. Now, to give more weight to the matter, the Government returned to the House on Tuesday this week to further facilitate and ratify the pending sale of the resort, as a unified property, to Carlton Strategic Ventures by the Hickox family, the majority owners. The new date for the consummation of the deal, hopefully, is December 20.
Chief Minister and Minister of Tourism, Mr. Victor Banks, who called the emergency meeting of the House, agreed to by the Speaker on Monday, gave a comprehensive account of the history of the property and its past investors. It is the first and only tourism project built on Crown Land in Anguilla. Mr. Banks stressed that the eventual sale of the resort was intended to re-unify it, safeguard its existence as a major source of employment and a considerable contributor to the island’s tourism industry; and to provide for its future expansion.
Mr. Banks continued: “Mr. Speaker, the Government of Anguilla has been in negotiation with the Hickoxes to regularise the operations of the property through the granting of an Alien Land Holding Licence and a MOU review since the middle of 2015 – and I am referring to this Government. More recently, since February this year, the Government of Anguilla has been facilitating a trilateral negotiation process where the interest of the Hickoxes will be sold to Carlton Strategic Ventures. Additionally, the interest of the Brilla Group will also be bought by Carlton Strategic Ventures which will result in a unified project once again.
“Mr. Speaker, the Hickoxes were not granted an Alien Land Holding Licence by the previous Government , because of many policy reasons that my Government does not share, and payments made by cheques were not cashed by that Government. This meant that, for the period May 2012 to the current time, the hotel had been operated by the Hickoxes who paid taxes due to the Government but the majority of these cheques were never cashed and are now stale-dated.
“The present Government is of the view that these debts are uncollectable due to the long period that has passed and that, in an effort to stabilise the property, and to sell it with a clean slate to a new developer who can reunify the property, it is necessary to forgive these debts in the public interest in accordance with the Financial Administration and Audit Act.”
Mr. Banks said it was the view of his Government that the remission of the taxes would be in the best interest of Anguilla and would allow the property to go forward.
He stressed that the on-going saga with Cap Juluca had resulted in an unstable property; only 70% of the property was being utilised; 30% was not in operation; and this had resulted in some 100 workers having to be laid off. “It is important, in terms of the development of Cap Juluca going forward, that we find every opportunity to re-unify the property under one ownership so that we can continue to provide support and services required to have an operating property,” he pointed out.
Mr. Banks continued: “We have decided that the situation with Cap Juluca cannot continue to fester. There is a real risk that the property can be a failed project. It has been the flagship of Anguilla’s tourism industry over the years, and the decision has been made that it is in the best interest of Anguilla that we should put this remission in place to affect the sale – and I am happy to report that by the 20th of December we expect that this property will be finally passed over.”
The Chief Minister added: “We have agreed on an MOU with the new ownership. All the other issues relating to ground leases have been negotiated; the Hickoxes have agreed that they will make the sale; deposits of money have been placed in an escrow account for the confirmation of the sale once these things have taken place, and this is an important part of that process going forward.”
All other members of the Government’s side of the House supported the motion under the Financial Administration and Audit Act. The Leader of the Opposition, Ms. Palmavon Webster, argued that the emergency meeting was illegal (due to the time period in which it was called and held) to which the Speaker, Mr. Leroy Rogers, disagreed. A number of heated exchanges ensued between them to the extent that the Speaker declined to allow her to continue to speak. She eventually left the House of Assembly.
