| …pick up US$8M cheque from my lawyer – BadalPegasus Hotel’s owner, Robert BadalMore than one week after a local hotelier offered to plug US$8M in the Marriott Hotel,China Jerseys Cheap, Project Head, Winston Brassington, has refused.Brassington, in a statement from Atlantic Hotel Inc. (AHI),Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys, in turning down the offer, believed that Robert Badal, who owns majority stakes in the nearby Pegasus Hotel, could not be serious.The statement from Brassington and the Government would raise even more questions about where they are finding the billions of dollars needed to complete the hotel.Government has, as part of its stakes, plugged almost US$22M of the US$57M needed for the completion of the hotel.The remaining monies would have been coming from a US$27M syndicated loan from Republic Bank and US$8M from a private equity investor. Those monies now held up as a court action has been filed to block transfer of the properties to the bank for the financing.Badal earlier this month said that Pegasus is willing to plug in the US$8M needed that will give the neighbouring hotel a 67 percent stake in Marriott.However,NFL Jerseys China Cheap, it is more than clear now that Government is not interested in local investors. Where it raised the monies from to take the hotel to an almost complete stage has been kept in the dark as Brassington and Government have both refused to comment.Yesterday, AHI in its response to Badal’s offer for Marriott argued that the businessman is not serious since he had not in the initial stages shown interest.“Advertisements inviting investor(s) expressions of interest to participate in the Marriott Hotel project’s private equity were widely published since 2009, both locally and internationally, and were placed in all of Guyana’s embassies and consulates abroad. Yet not a single local investor,Cheap NFL Jerseys, including Mr. Badal, had expressed an interest in investing in the Marriott Project. On the contrary he has vehemently opposed this project.”Brassington pointed out that in 2013; AHI announced it had secured an investor. However, it was not until May last year that AHI and Republic Bank were able to release the name of the investor. The investors who were said to be Victor How Chung Chan and Xu Han are principals in the British Virgin Islands (BVI)-registered, ACE Square Investments Ltd.AHI said that both Stabroek News and Kaieteur News, in October 2013, reported extensively on a statement issued by Badal attacking the feasibility study as “unrealistic assumptions.”“In his statement, Mr. Badal predicted “crippling operating losses” for the hotel, “with no cash flow being available to cover interest rate payments as this outfit would not even realize 15 per cent occupancy.”AHI also said that the hotelier, who also controls Guyana Stockfeeds Limited, had made it clear that Marriott “would rapidly lead to bankruptcy.”Badal had said that he wanted the same tax breaks that Marriott is getting to be made available if he is approved as the investor.However, Brassington said that terms and conditions for the investment, including those mentioned by Badal, were a matter of public records since 2012 and have not changed from the inception of the project.“Mr. Badal cannot, therefore, credibly claim ignorance of these conditions and incentives when, in October 2013, he described the Marriott investment as “an indecent assault on the private sector and fraud on the taxpayer.”“Clearly, Mr. Badal’s reported sudden about face and declaration of interest in becoming a major investor is not to be taken seriously.”The extravagant incentives and other benefits to Marriott have left other hotel operators extremely worried as the new 197-room hotel in Kingston, when it comes on stream this year, is more than likely to close them down.Last month,Cheap NFL Jerseys Stitched, Brassington admitted that financing for the project was in jeopardy because of the court case filed by Opposition Member of Parliament, Desmond Trotman.That case immediately raised questions of where government was getting the monies from to continue building the hotel.Yesterday, Badal said that neither Brassington nor AHI have called him to find out how serious he is.“I stand by my earlier statements on the lack of feasibility and economic justification of this project. I believe that this project is an indecent assault on the local private sector and fraud on the Guyanese taxpayer by the powers within the PPP/C Government.It was my conviction all along and that of decent,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, credible businessmen in Guyana that Mr. Brassington and those whose instructions he executes, create these vehicles to commit fraud, enrich themselves and their friends and would not entertain proposals from decent businessmen.”The businessman said that he finds it difficult to believe that a minority Government would spend US$60M of poor taxpayers resources to build a hotel when it cannot find the resources to equip the police force with “breathalyzer kits and mobility to fight escalating crime, provide basic health-care, and reliable electricity supply in one of the poorest countries in the region”.“The fact is that now that the Hotel is completed with funds which sources are yet to be disclose, approved and audited, my offer is firm. Send the agreement to my attorney for review and uplift your US$8M cheque. Deal done.” |
