est. 2007

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Harlequin Property Goes Bust!

Recent developments in St. Vincent with Harlequin Property SVG filing insolvency proceedings will lead to heavy loses for investors to be sure. This matter should be a concern for Barbadians because of the stalled properties owned by Harlequin in Barbados. As is the norm Barbadians will NOT be updated on this matter until the local…

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HarlequinBarbadosRecent developments in St. Vincent with Harlequin Property SVG filing insolvency proceedings will lead to heavy loses for investors to be sure. This matter should be a concern for Barbadians because of the stalled properties owned by Harlequin in Barbados. As is the norm Barbadians will NOT be updated on this matter until the local authorities are forced to do so but what can they say? Yet another bogus project that will not realise foreign exchange promised by the local authority.

What has become obvious is that the race by Caribbean islands – including Barbados – to attract foreign investment appears to have local authorities compromising on performing robust due diligence. A simple Google search about Harlequin and or David Ames, Chairman of Harlequin would have alerted regional authorities to tango with caution.

We expect this matter will engage lawyers, accountants and the court system for the next many months, in the meantime the unfinished properties scattered across the region will continue to be an eyesore in our resorts.

Read the following the links for the latest:

98 responses to “Harlequin Property Goes Bust!”

  1. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Well Well ,
    you are wrong again. Seek to understand why?

  2. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Alvin Cummins

    So……what is going to happen at the old Paradise Hotel site at the bottom of Cave Hill?

  3. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Ah wonder when the pensioners will get back the 60 million in US money Alvin that took from NIS and “invested”.

  4. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Since the thread has gone to the NIS, I recall sometime ago (when the Banks sale process began) a Dr Robinson (??) posting on BU…I think he was the NIS Chairperson at that time…regarding why the annual reports were so outdated and efforts being made to correct this issue.
    I note, the website of the NIS was later completely revamped, It no longer included annual audited reports or any commentary, rather a link to “Investements” which broadly classified amounts. It doesn’t even reference those person on the Board or its senior management.
    Can you imagine large public companies as listed on the BSE, NOT submitting Annual Reports?

  5. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    I dont know what investments that idiot Alvin is talking about, he needs to tell the pensioners why he took their NIS money all 60 million US and “invested” it in 4 season’s scam…and he is now saying he knew it was a scam…steupss.

    On a much, much lighter note… MoneyB where are you, they got a naked statue of your girlfriend Killary in Manhattan…lol.

    http://ow.ly/wBiy305j018

  6. Due Diligence Avatar
    Due Diligence

    De Harlequin cup is half full!!!!!!!!

    H hotel to ‘restart work in 2017’

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/88203/hotel-restart-2017

  7. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Hard knock

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/88225/hard-knock

    Hahaha. .lol.., now the small time, petty crook that is Mark Maloney will know what it feels like to swim with real sharks, he could only talk down to bajans him and Bizzy, but these bad boys will let him know who is what and what for…lol

    The locally grown leeches, parasites and welfare rats in the minority community needs to be taught a valuable lesson that bajans are not equipped to teach them….lol

  8. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Well Well, Miller Frustrated businessman et al.
    You people are always getting on as if only Governments incompetent. I am glad that this expose of PRIVATE BUSINESSES are among the biggest losers there is. The collapse of Harlequin, is yet another example of scam artists bilking the people,; those who do not exercise Due Diligence, before they place their own funds in the hands of others.
    Vincent Haynes, the old Paradise hotel is the Proposed Four Season. Since the Government has apparently taken over the Four Seasons, it must be assumed that their “investment” will mean that this property will have an asset value and will be the property of the government (NIS pensioners’ “investment”; Well Well).
    I WROTE ON THIS SITE SOME TIME AGO OF THE MACHINATIONS IN THE CEMENT industry, pointing out that Cemix had purchased not only Arawak, but that they had cornered the market in all the islands, but as usual, you people didn’t pay attention to “Alvin the idiot”. Now you see.
    By the way, Well Well, I DID do economics; not to degree level, but as part of my Diploma in Public Administration, at the University of Toronto (class of 1978). Even today I can remember the textbook we used; Economics; by Lipsey Sparks and Steiner).

  9. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Alvin…that economics course dud nothing to help you or you would have seen Cahill and Clare Cowan for the scams that they were.

    Alvin..when will the pensioners get back their money the government stole from them and gave away to the 4 seasons crooks.

    Have you taken a look at the 16 acres of 4 seasons decay, a few years ago my family and I on a trip, walked the beach and were shocked and appalled, it’s too ugly to even take photos…, where is the pensioner’s 60 million US dollars Alvin.

  10. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Well Well,
    When I last checked to land was still there. None of it was pocketed. It would not fir. The money was “invested” in the property which is still there. What do you estimate is the worth of of the PROPERTY? I would expect that this is the property of the government NIS Investment portfolio.That is where the money is. Government never STOLE anything from anybody. There you go again, raising false alarms, and spreading disinformation.

  11. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David (BU):

    Any word yet on the Central Bank Governor’s report on Barbados’s economic performance for the 3rd Qtr 2016?

    It would be most interesting to find out the foreign reserves position and what would be making up the FDI inflows for the balance of the year.

    But one thing for sure is that the Guv will be doing a ‘convincingly’ mercurial job in projecting the millions of forex that will be spent by the visiting Diaspora in celebrating 50 years of Independence and the multiplier effects on immediate economic growth enough to jack up the projected growth rate by at least 1%.

  12. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @Alvin
    “I would expect that this is the property of the government NIS Investment portfolio.”
    So would I.
    But why has the NIS failed in umpteen years to provide the owners of the NIS with a properly documented report on the financial in and out flows, and some commentary to support its activities?
    This what we get….http://www.nis.gov.bb/investments/
    It is completely unacceptable, regardless of who is the government, that annual reports on what is the people’s largest asset are not provided.

  13. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Alvin Cummins October 20, 2016 at 12:41 PM
    “When I last checked to land was still there. None of it was pocketed. It would not fir. The money was “invested” in the property which is still there.”

    Should this approach to ‘wasted’ resources be applied also to the Sugar Point Cruise Ship terminal which should have started construction since January 2014 and the Andrews Modernized Sugar Cane factory which should be grinding at full speed for the 2017 bountiful sugar cane harvest?

    Now that should put you on the back-pedal of “yard-fowlism” for awhile.

  14. David Avatar
    David

    The economic reviews have been coming later and later haven’t they. At a time of economic uncertainty for the country one would have expected some efficient communication with the public by the gatekeeper of economic information. Then again this government has shown it is about stealth. Shouldn’t the central bank appear to be independent?

  15. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David October 20, 2016 at 3:16 PM
    And this kind of sloth and un-professionalism is from a man who is always blaming Bajan workers for low productivity and the drop in standards of performance in the workplace.

    But what can you expect from a quack who is only good at ‘doctoring’ economic and financial statistics to appease his political masters.

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @Miller

    Interesting you mentioned national productivity. Did you read Roy Morris this week? He did an analysis/time series of the number of sittings by this poorakey parliament over a ten year period. It is not surprise which parliament was found wanting.

  17. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David October 20, 2016 at 3:50 PM

    It’s a matter of utmost disgrace. When did the parliament last convene? Since the middle of August when the budget was presented?

    Why couldn’t these lazy bastards just take 4 or 5 weeks off just like any other top manager?

    It’s a crying shame of utmost hypocrisy for the likes of Minister Inniss to berate workers for poor attendance low productivity while encouraging his colleagues in this blatant game of skiving.

    Imagine Inniss is now the biggest proponent of Privatization and public sector reform but not a word from him about the bloated obese cabinet in which he is ‘gluttonously’ embedded.

    Isn’t that cabinet also in need of reform in order to lead by example?

    And this is from a man who played a crucial part in the defeat of the BLP when- at his own Constituency Branch meeting- he along with Stinkliar accused the BLP of planning fire 10,000 workers and to privatize the same services the DLP is currently undertaking to ‘temporary’ outsource (euphemistically speaking).

    What slogan will the DLP think of next? Accuse the BLP of planning to ‘Devalue’ the Bajan dollar? In that case they could remain in office until June 2017.

    Karma can be one political Bitch of retribution.

  18. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Alvin…as I said, economics is not your forte, stivk to what you do best…pimping for politicians.

  19. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Well Well,
    It is not yours either, and neither is honesty and truthfulness. Spite and epithets are definitely at the top of your accomplishments. Sad.
    Miller, Coral does not grow back in a short time. Read the environmental impact study. I did.

  20. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Miller,
    “…what can you expect from a quack who is only good at ‘doctoring’ economic and financial statistics to appease his political masters.”
    Wasn’t he a very Senior Economist both at the World Bank and the IMF? Isn’t he the author of several scholarly works on Economies and economics? Didn’t the same “masters” the IMF oversee and make recommendations over the years to your government, of which you would have been a senior member? Weren’t they your political masters? As Obama would say “come on!!”

  21. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Miller, again,
    “…accused the BLP of planning fire 10,000 workers and to privatize the same services the DLP is currently undertaking to ‘temporary’ outsource (euphemistically speaking).” You should be pleased they followed your advice and forward planning. And you people have been warning people that the DLP was threatening to devalue the dollar for many years.. remember, before Arthur came to power?This talk comes up just before every election.

  22. David Avatar
    David

    @Alvin

    Curious if you have hooked up with Clare Cowan recently.

  23. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Alvin…it’s only spite to you because you cannot reduce my mind to one of a yardfowl believing in outdated, antiquated nonsense and the lies of mediocre politicians.

    5 years from now we will still ask you where is the pensioners stolen 60 million US dollars while the 4 seasons scam, your “investment” will still be sitting there rottening away, unless the dummies in parliament give it away first.

  24. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Alvin is an idiot

  25. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Well Well,and Miller,Among others,
    Land does not rot away. The buildings were rotted away when Butch Stuart purchased the property. What I will keep pushing in your head IS that the 4 Seasons was a Private Sector project (Scam) WHAT government did was to obtain the property that had been savaged by the neglect brought on by the PRIVATE person who had savaged the property. Read my comment/ARTICLE, published in the Nation at the time, on the Trees at Batts Rock.I WILL ALSO KEEP REMINDING YOU THAT THE BARBADOS LABOUR PARTY WAS THE GOVERNMENT IN POWER AT THE TIME AND MIA WHO WAS A GOVERNMENT MINISTER AT THE TIME WAS ALSO ONE OF THE ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATED WITH THE GROUP (PEMBERTON ET AL). They were the government in power at the time when it collapsed. The DLP endeavoured to rescue the entire fiasco.
    David, I do not, and have never, had ANY connection or association with Claire Cowan. All my contributions on that episode were in defence of the need for a Plasma Gasification Plant (A Barbadian concept by the way) to assist in the destruction of Garbage destined for the Landfill. We have no more land available for landfills, and the garbage keeps building up. The truth and the facts have to be faced and preparations have to be made long in advance.Recycling is great and should be established firmly, but provisions have to be made for un-recyclable products (large truck and tractor tyres for instance.).
    Claire did the same thing that Pemberton, Ames, etc. did. They pre-sold the project; just like Donald Trump and other investors do all over the world. Right here in Toronto large Condominium and building developments are pressed long before a single hole is dug on the Properties.
    Bushie,
    We may have misguided Cawmerians, but after passing through that “University”, no-one emerges as an “idiot”. If you designate me as an idiot, I am therefore unique.I never designate you as an idiot. I may disagree with you but an idiot/// No, you are a former Cawmerian. Up and on.

  26. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Alvin..why don’t you read and absorb correctly, no one said anything about land rotting, as it stands and degrades in it’s present state of disrepair, the whole 16 acres is an ugly eyesore and a liability.

    How much money do you think it will cost the taxpayers for government to demolish 16 acres of rusted structure, do you think an intelligent buyer will be interested in purchasing that dump in it’s present state.

    ….the government had no choice but to assume the liability after Thompson stuck his cirrupt nise in the private sector business and gave away the pension money, they took on responsibilty by giving away pensioners money. ..

    …..it was none of their damn business to begin with, and they should not have involved the people’s money.

    No amount of lies you tell on here can change that….Alvin.

    The world is filled with idiots.

  27. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Alvin
    Bushie is just at a loss to understand any rational basis upon which you consistently take clearly erroneous positions, …and then defend them in the face of overwhelming evidence that you are completely wrong ….. except for the explanation of ‘idiocy’.

    It all became clear with Clare Cowan and CAHILL…..
    Until then Bushie blamed your recent illness and possible resulting loss of faculties, but shiite man Alvin!!!, …it is clear that you have either refined nonsense to a new art … or have become an unwitting victim of idiocy…

    BTW, if you REALLY think that attending Cawmere insulates someone from being an idiot, then you are AGAIN confirming Bushie’s analysis….

  28. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Bush Tea October 21, 2016 at 10:12 AM #

    Bushie,
    We may have misguided Cawmerians, but after passing through that “University”, no-one emerges as an “idiot”. If you designate me as an idiot, I am therefore unique.I never designate you as an idiot. I may disagree with you but an idiot/// No, you are a former Cawmerian. Up and on.
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

    Chuckle…….I must agree with Alvin…..we all have our own agendas….up and on.

  29. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    ….the government had no choice but to assume the liability after Thompson stuck his corrupt nose in the private sector business and gave away the pension money, they took on responsibilty by giving away pensioners money. ..

    Lookee Alvin.

  30. Due Diligence Avatar
    Due Diligence

    Alvin Cummins October 21, 2016 at 9:03 AM #

    “Claire did the same thing that Pemberton, Ames, etc. did. They pre-sold the project; just like Donald Trump and other investors do all over the world. Right here in Toronto large Condominium and building developments are pressed long before a single hole is dug on the Properties.”

    Pemberton pre-sold (unbuilt) units in the Paradise Beach hotel/condo project to unsuspecting buyers/investors who did insufficient due diligence into who they were paying their money. and now will never see their money again.

    Ames/Harlequin pre-sold (unbuilt) units in the Merricks project to unsuspecting buyers/investors who did insufficient due diligence into who they were paying their money, and now will never see their money again.

    Clare Cowan/Cahill did the same thing, pre-sold the gasification plant to unsuspecting buyers/investors (the Four Ministers) who did insufficient due diligence into who they were paying taxpayers money, and now the taxpayers will never see their money again; but the Four Ministers got to keep the money they received from Clare to sign the contract.

  31. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Well Well,
    If the bank seizes your property due to non payment of mortgage they have seized your collateral. If they then weather sell it (at a profit) or develop it to be worth more than the original investment , they have not lost the money they seized it for. Land appreciates in value, and a seaside property such as exists at the Four Seasons’ site will be worth appreciably more than when it was first taken over in 2008. So no money has been lost.So your statement:…by giving away pensioners money”. has no validity..The land is still there and even though, it maybe an eyesore, it still has improved value. Right now it is worth more than government hasp into it. If a property such as envisioned in the hotel is constructed on it it will be worth more. When the former Hilton was imploded, the area would have been worth only the value of the land. When the New Hilton was built it would then have been worth much more.

    Bushie, I am sure you would have been taught by such stalwarts as Gladstone Holder. You would thus have been taught about the meaning of logic, differences of opinion, and argument. Thus, as a Cawmerian you would have been taught to understand that even though we may disagree from different perspectives, depending on our own view of a situation, objectivity would enable us to disagree, based on our individual perspectives. I would never call you an idiot, even though I may disagree with you; just someone with a different opinion.As you see I do not take umbrage at a fellow Cawmerian calling me an idiot. After all; “birds of a feather….

  32. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Alvin…the question is when will the pensioners see back their 60 US million dollars, a simple question. Will it be in this lifetime.

  33. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Well Well,
    Like all pensioners;Eventually.

  34. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/88116/bidding-black-bess-development

    This seems to be a trend on the island.

    Alvin…I expected such a retarded answer from you, it’s in keeping with your profile as a useless political yardfowl.

  35. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    Well Well ;
    Your response is also as expected. The article you refer me to is not a “trend” on the island, and it is not new or now.
    Note especially; “The project was officially launched in 2007 by then Minister of Tourism Noel Lynch but eventually ran into financial difficulty” The launch date is 2007, meaning discussions etc would have taken place between 2005 and 2006, or even before. When was the Four Seasons Project first conceptualized? Doesn’t that give the impression that many of these projects; designed to sell the country to the highest bidder; fulfilling the BLP mantra that land should be able to be sold for its highest value to the highest bidder? Then when these things fail apart, the DLP is left holding the bag, and being blamed for all the resulting imbroglio.
    That’s why you will never understand me. I will never let you escape your party’s responsibility in these issues.

  36. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Alvin…you still refuse to get it, all the reasons you outlined are the reasons why corrupt David Thompson and the government ministers had no right pushing their nose in and committing taxpayer’s money to the fraud that was 4 seasons, particularly since all the government ministers were well aware that Mia, opposition leader was the attorney for the 4 sessons crooks.

  37. Due Diligence Avatar
    Due Diligence

    Alvin – You said at October 21, 2016 at 5:28 PM

    “Land appreciates in value, and a seaside property such as exists at the Four Seasons’ site will be worth appreciably more than when it was first taken over in 2008. So no money has been lost. So your statement:…by giving away pensioners money”. has no validity..The land is still there and even though, it maybe an eyesore, it still has improved value. Right now it is worth more than government hasp into it”

    Under normal circumstances a seaside property such as the Paradise Beach property (formerly the site of the Cunard Paradise Resort) on which developers/promoters Pemberton and Paterson et al proposed to build 36 luxury villas/apartments and a 100+ room hotel to be managed by Four Seasons would have appreciated in value since the GOB put money (US$60m) into it.

    BUT, this is not normal circumstances.

    Yes the land is still there; but the “improvements” (the now crumbling partly completed villas) are as you say an eyesore and in fact are a detriment to the value of the 30 acre seaside property. Indeed the US$60m (plus???) that GOB has into it is in fact lost.

    Likewise the money that Simon Cowell, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Eddie Jordan, Lucien Grainge, and other luminaries “invested” in Pemberton’s Valhalla is lost.

    Without the benefit of access to Land Titles records, it is reasonable conclude the property (land) is subject to liens far exceeding the value of the seaside property..

    See this 2010 article Alvin – You said at October 21, 2016 at 5:28 PM

    “Land appreciates in value, and a seaside property such as exists at the Four Seasons’ site will be worth appreciably more than when it was first taken over in 2008. So no money has been lost. So your statement:…by giving away pensioners money”. has no validity..The land is still there and even though, it maybe an eyesore, it still has improved value. Right now it is worth more than government hasp into it”

    Under normal circumstances a seaside property such as the Paradise Beach property (formerly the site of the Cunard Paradise Resort) on which developers/promoters Pemberton and Paterson et al proposed to build 36 luxury villas/apartments and a 100+ room hotel to be managed by Four Seasons would have appreciated in value since the GOB money (US$60m) into.

    But this is not normal circumstances.

    Yes the land is still there; but the “improvements” (the now crumbling partly completed villas) are as you say an eyesore and in fact are a detriment to the value of the 30 acre seaside property. Indeed the US$60m (plus???) that GOB has into it is in fact lost.

    Likewise the money that Simon Cowell, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Eddie Jordan, Lucien Grainge, and other luminaries “invested” in Pemberton’s Valhalla is lost.

    Without the benefit of access to Land Titles records, it is reasonable conclude the property (land) is subject to liens far exceeding the value of the seaside property..

    Alvin – You said at October 21, 2016 at 5:28 PM

    “Land appreciates in value, and a seaside property such as exists at the Four Seasons’ site will be worth appreciably more than when it was first taken over in 2008. So no money has been lost. So your statement:…by giving away pensioners money”. has no validity..The land is still there and even though, it maybe an eyesore, it still has improved value. Right now it is worth more than government hasp into it”

    Under normal circumstances a seaside property such as the Paradise Beach property (formerly the site of the Cunard Paradise Resort) on which developers/promoters Pemberton and Paterson et al proposed to build 36 luxury villas/apartments and a 100+ room hotel to be managed by Four Seasons would have appreciated in value since the GOB money (US$60m) into.

    But this is not normal circumstances.

    Yes the land is still there; but the “improvements” (the now crumbling partly completed villas) are as you say an eyesore and in fact are a detriment to the value of the 30 acre seaside property. Indeed the US$60m (plus???) that GOB has into it is in fact lost.

    Likewise the money that Simon Cowell, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Eddie Jordan, Lucien Grainge, and other luminaries “invested” in Pemberton’s Valhalla is lost.

    Without the benefit of access to Land Titles records, it is reasonable conclude the property (land) is subject to liens far exceeding the value of the seaside property..

    See this 2010 story: http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/news/regional/11/17/creditors-in-barbados-four-seasons-project-to-get/

    And this 2016 story: http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/08/17/sinckler-announces-four-seasons-deal/

    No investor, foreign or local, would touch that property with a ten foot pole.

    The only winner in this whole fiasco, assuming he did not take a mortgage for part of the sale price, is Gordon “Butch” Stewart, who sold the property to Pemberton et al back in 2004/2005 for US$30 million.

  38. Due Diligence Avatar
    Due Diligence

    OOPS – Sorry about the duplication

  39. Due Diligence Avatar
    Due Diligence

    PS

    Back in 2005 when Butch sold the property to Pemberton/Paterson et al and in 2007 when they were selling the villas to the rich and famous, Barbados’ sovereign risk rating was investment grade. In

  40. Due Diligence Avatar
    Due Diligence

    OOPS again

    PS

    Back in 2005 when Butch sold the property to Pemberton/Paterson et al and in 2007 when they were selling the villas to the rich and famous, Barbados’ sovereign risk rating was investment grade. In 2016 – not so much.

  41. Not KPMG Avatar
    Not KPMG

    Details of Harlequin’s debtors and creditors:
    https://home.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/bb/pdf/2016/10/notice-of-intention-oct032016.pdf

  42. Due Diligence Avatar
    Due Diligence

    There is a prominent ad by TerraCaribbean in the Globe and Mail Report on Business today featuring this property:
    http://www.terracaribbean.com/Barbados/Residential-Sale/Land/Bacassa+-+St.+Peter

    “There is no guide price as the property is being sold via a bid process. All interested parties are invited to submit their bid on or before December 12, 2016”

    I guess the success/failure will test the effect of Barbados’ non-investment grade status on foreign investors unease to invest in Barbados as discussed by Roger Cave in the following recent article.

    http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/11/04/investors-uneasy-about-barbados-growing-debt/

    Will be interesting to learn if any foreign investors make a bid for the property.

    Or if it goes bust like so many other tourism “projects”

  43. Yatinkiteasy Avatar
    Yatinkiteasy

    Latest news out of St Vincent is that the resort is now closed. Electricity was cut off due to non payment of bills. Also, it was reported that employees were striking, having not been paid for months. Several guests at the resort were left stranded, having to pay their own way to travel or stay at other hotels. I guess this means the end for Harlequin Hotel Barbados, and Merricks, which is now a looted place , and overgrown with weeds.
    Court documents in St Vincent show the BRA as being owed a large sum of money for property taxes on Merricks.

  44. Yatinkiteasy Avatar
    Yatinkiteasy

    Yet..Buccament Bay website makes no mention of this closure, and are still taking bookings and inviting payments for Buccament Bay Resort, from April 2017.
    The saga continues!!!

  45. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    What is the latest about Harlequin? Has Dave Ames been asked to explain his latest business story? What is the situation with Ames and the UK’s Serious Fraud Office? Have the authorities in Barbados launched an inquiry in to the Harlequin affair? Does any of this appeal to the Bajan public or media?

  46. David Avatar
    David

    It has been a grind but we are here now.

    Ex-Harlequin boss guilty of BDS$549m fraud
    LONDON – A British court has convicted a naturalised St Vincent and the Grenadines national, Dave Ames, in connection with a £226 million (BDS$549 million) fraud.
    Ames, the British-born former chairman of Harlequin, the company that owned the former Buccament Bay Resort on St Vincent and the Grenadines, will be sentenced in September.
    The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) successfully convicted Ames, who was behind the fraud involving celebrityendorsed luxury resorts in the Caribbean, including Buccament Bay Resort, according to a press release.
    The FSO said that a jury at Southwark
    Crown Court found Ames, 70, guilty on two counts of fraud by abuse of position. He had offered no evidence in his defence.
    Deceived investors
    An SFO investigation uncovered how Ames deceived more than 8 000 United Kingdom investors in the Harlequin Group, a hotel and resorts development venture. The statement said victims were led to believe they had a secure investment in property whereas, in reality, Harlequin Group was never operating as promised.
    The business model relied upon investors paying a 30 per cent deposit to purchase an unbuilt villa or hotel room, half of which went towards
    fees for Harlequin and relevant salespeople, while Harlequin put the remaining 15 per cent toward construction.
    Investors were fraudulently told that the building of the properties would be further funded by external financial backing. With no additional source of funding, three properties needed to be purchased to finance just one of the luxury accommodation units.
    This led to the exponential expansion of the scheme, the diversion of investor money between resorts and ultimately a funding shortfall of over £1.2 billion by 2012, seven years after Ames launched the scheme. (CMC)

  47. Lisa Avatar
    Lisa

    David
    Remember it was Harlequin behind the Merricks Residence as well. People had made deposits for those and in recent times in the last few years there was some type of town hall regarding that development. I went to a home show in Dublin in 2004 where villas were being sold off plan for Merricks. They were selling it as a beachside gated community and I asked the guy where the beach in that area was because I only knew it to be cliff side. He was rather surprised that he would run into someone who could tell him there was no beach in that area. I was then told they would create a beach.. that I found to be very funny.

  48. David Avatar
    David

    Ex-owner of Harlequin properties jailed in UK
    LONDON – British-born, St Vincent and the Grenadines naturalised citizen, Dave Ames, has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for running what a judge described as a “gigantic Ponzi scheme” in the Caribbean.
    Ames, the former chairman of Harlequin, the company that owned the former Buccament Bay Resort in St Vincent and the Grenadines, is also wanted on tax evasion and theft charges.
    At one time he also owned a partially-built Harlequin Boutique Hotel on Hastings Main Road, Christ Church, which was subsequently torn down by its new owners Preconco Limited in June last year.
    The other uncompleted Barbados property his company had been developing was a 70-acre Merricks Resort, in Merricks, St Philip, but that ended up in the hands of bankruptcy trustees. Yesterday, Ames was sentenced in the British court to nine years for one count of fraud by abuse of position and three years for another count. The sentences will run consecutively.
    In August, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the United Kingdom successfully prosecuted Ames, who was behind the fraud involving celebrity-endorsed luxury resorts in the Caribbean.
    Justice Christopher Hehir described Ames as a “slick salesman and thoroughly dishonest with it”. He said Harlequin sales material was “full of ambiguous, evidently false and misleading claims in his name”.
    “The prosecution was careful not to use the word before the jury but the plain truth is that from January 2010, the operation was a gigantic Ponzi scheme and could only be kept going by attracting new investors and you knew they would almost inevitably lose everything.
    “The jury heard evidence you told a lie in person to an investor that the money they paid you was ring-fenced and this was entirely untrue as you acknowledged when you were interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office when you said the business model would not work if it was ring-fenced.”
    The judge said that Ames had no relevant experience entering the property business, noting: “You had sold garden furniture and double glazing and been in the loan business, but were twice declared bankrupt, a fact you did not readily declare to those whose money you were after.
    “You said you were a visionary and an entrepreneur, but you were not. You were a slick and plausible salesman and thoroughly dishonest with it . . . . You are a menace to
    anybody unfortunate enough to do business with you.”
    Justice Hehir added: “You involved celebrity endorsements and very lavish entertainment indeed and the generous levels of commission to agents played a part, but the failure of others to stop you cannot mitigate your culpability in the slightest. Most of the money went into the Harlequin black hole, but £6.1 million found its way to you and members of your family.”
    (CMC)

    Source: Nation

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