By
Nathan 'Jolly’ Green. August 17, 2020

I am
questioning Buccament Bay Resort because no one else is.

Vincentians
think the current deal is great, yet those previously employed there
will get nothing, nada.

Those
farmers and suppliers of fruit and vegetables, fish, and meat, will
get nothing either.

But the
government will get all its taxes that were owing by Harlequin and
the resort. VINLEC and CWSA will get all their money; the bankers
will get theirs. But the little people will get nothing, being told
that is the way bankruptcy works.

The ULP
government and its supporters cheer it on, the NDP welcomes the sale
to Sandals.

But let
us stand back and decide what has really happened.

I
contend and have like the writer Peter Binose always contended much
of the fault for the Buccament failure rests with the government, and
I believe directly with PM Ralph Gonsalves, perhaps his wife, and
certainly Julian Frances.

Ralph
Gonsalves allowed a conman to come into Saint Vincent and rip off the
government and local and overseas investors. Thousands of pensioners
from the UK had their life saving taken from them. Investors from the
US have also lost all, and some still owe money to American banks for
loans that they paid to Buccament.

David
Ames, a British twice bankrupt company owner, already had a record
that smelt of fraud in Australia and Thailand. What he did in those
places appears to be a test run for the enormous Ponzi scheme he ran
in the Caribbean and Americas. People in Thailand and Australia were
already complaining that they had been conned; there were plenty of
reports in international newspapers. Dave Ames, if he had been
adequately investigated under the due diligence method, would have
instantly shown up as a dud. Checking any British person for company
bankruptcy and wrongdoing takes five minutes on the internet, and it
is free. That all makes it obvious that Dave Ames was not checked or
investigated; there was no due diligence. Who can we blame for that,
well I blame Ralph Gonsalves, he did the deal, he even gave Ames and
his family Vincentian citizenship which entitled them to Vincentian
passports? I must ask the question, how could the brilliant lawyer
Ralph Gonsalves allow this to happen, how was there Dave Ames allowed
to carry out such dastardly deeds in Saint Vincent.

Gonsalves
was warned for months turning into years that Ames was a crook; in
fact, he once wrote: “when considering businessmen for projects in
SVG we do not expect them to be angels.” To which it was replied,
and Vincentians do not expect us to be doing business with crooks.

In
February 2013 BBC reporters alleged Dave Ames of Harlequin and
Buccament Bay resort had bribed Ralph Gonsalves. Gonsalves denied the
allegations. The reporters accosted him on an aeroplane videoing and
recording the confrontation on board an aircraft after it landed at
Barbados. Gonsalves never sued the BBC, and no litigation ensued, it
died a death. Vincentians were shellshocked and horrified that their
beloved and respected Prime Minister could have such allegations made
against him.

Mrs
Gonsalves was given a contract by Ames to carry out interior design
and furnishings and fitting in the first small number of beachfront
show villas. I am unsure how much that was, but it was rumoured and
written about elsewhere as a lot of money. Binose asked about
transparency and if it was right that Mrs Gonsalves should get such a
contract, did it look right? But she also attended a conference in
Watford England where 2,500 prospective British clients were
listening to her convincing speech on why they should invest in
Buccament Bay Resort. That night and the next day, hundreds signed up
and paid deposits. So, is she to blame in any way for all those
people losing their money? Only if she knew Ames was a crook and what
was about to take place, which is doubtful. But what I will say it
can hardly be right for her to have received payment from Harlequin
or the Resort for contracts on those villas, which made it look as if
they were linked to the overall deal in Ames acquiring the land. She
should never have gone to the UK to support the sales drive by Ames
and used her influence as the Prime Minister’s wife to encourage
people to buy into the resort. People must believe that this was an
arms-length deal between her and Harlequin. Unfortunately, it does
not look that way, and first impressions are important.

Then
Julian Francis, Ralph Gonsalves first cousin, a government minister
and senator. He was at Buccament every day or at least every day that
I was there, which was at least twice a week. He took away on
several Saturday nights a car full of food from the Buccament
kitchens for a party. How he paid for that I do not know, but not at
the time of collection, prepaid or paid later perhaps. But I was
there. I saw it and talked to the Chef. He also had a new house
REDACTED REDACTED ICE workmen, the Buccament contractors at the time.
I was there at the REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED ICE quantity
surveyor who arrived from Buccament Bay Resort, on occasions we went
and had a drink together. I have seen much of the paperwork regarding
progress reports REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED.

At
Buccament Bay Resort Francis put himself forward as the Mr Fixit, a
go-between for disgruntled employees looking for wages owed, and
suppliers who could not get their invoices paid. He told everyone
publicly, and it has been published “If you have problems come and
see me.” He offered to help those disgruntled creditors and
employees. I do not know if it was Ralph Gonsalves or Julian Francis
who had the Black Squad police, and the SSU military police, with big
guns, stop employees going to the Harlequin offices to demand their
money. But whoever was responsible gave the resort better treatment
than the Vincentians who were owed money.

This
went on for months and years; if the resort had not been given that
kind of protection they would have folded earlier, suppliers would
have been owed less, employees would have been paid. Now instead they
are being offered nothing, shafted is the word that comes to mind.

There
has been much written about Dave Ames and the Buccament Bay resort,
but at least he built something in Saint Vincent. Many other islands
he sold off artists impressions and built nothing. In Brazil, he
started selling a resort off artists impressions and never built
anything there either. The law in Brazil requires developers to place
deposits and payments in a Brazilian bank escrow account until the
client has their properly deeded property. But Ames took deposits,
sold unbuilt properties, and instantly moved the amounts abroad. He
circumvented Brazil government rules designed to protect investors
and buyers. That was all going on while Ames was building Buccament.

According
to a group of American Investors who obtained a court order securing
their investment, a group that acted early and used all the proper
legal channels to protect their investment. The same group who had
made it difficult for the Kelly group to finalise a deal. They have
been told by the liquidator their payment application has been
denied, despite the orders from the court. If that is true, and I
believe them, then we can expect litigation from that quarter as
well. These Americans did everything right, yet end up with nothing,
the word shafted comes to mind.

After
the government changed the rules and acquired the resort and more
farmland and did a deal with Punnet, and was able to sell the project
unencumbered, did they offer it on the open market? If they did not,
how do they know that $17 million was the best price achievable?
Remember this was not the same deal offered to the Kelly consortium;
this was a new deal. It was never available unencumbered before with
all sections available from one seller. To make that worse here you
have a unique and revised deal, a great new deal, and they sell it
for less than Kelly's group offered with all its problems.

Can
anyone say the property was undersold and not offered on the open
market to obtain the best value for the creditors? If I remember
Harlequin valued, it at $250 million?

I advise
everyone who was owed money to get together and take joint legal
advice, something smells.

Because
if it was worth more on the open market and was sold for more, there
may have been money for ex-employees.

What
worries me is that Ralph Gonsalves and his boy Camillo, and Butch
Stewart and his boy Adam, got together in Florida USA, and struck a
deal which they all agreed on. This deal should have been negotiated
in SVG and should have been fully transparent, with other government
ministers and attorneys present. This deal should not have been
conducted like a family affair.

It
reminded me of the previous deal, Ralph Gonsalves, and his wife,
going to Cuba and doing a transaction in a restaurant, a family
affair, with a client who wanted to invest into a private lounge at
Argyle airport.

I felt a
little twinge of sympathy for Dave Ames because it turned out he
bought a pup when he bought into Buccament. He did not have the
slightest idea that the land that the resort was built on is in an
ancient flood plain. He was clueless until the flood came as it had
done before, and several employees at the resort drowned. Evidence
shows that SVG government and some ministers knew this to be an
active flood plain, did they tell him? If not, why not? If this
information was kept from Ames, is the SVG government responsible for
all the losses of everyone? How are we protected for the future if
the resort floods again after Sandals buy it, were they warned, are
they taking on the full responsibility if it happens again. It may
never happen again, but it has happened three time in living
lifetimes. The weather is getting worse, will it happen again?

Ames
expected the Argyle airport to be open when he launched the resort,
but the three-year Cuban project took them nine years.

So here
was a conman, that could have built the one resort anywhere in the
Caribbean, and he chose Saint Vincent. At the time, I decided it was
Karma, and I believe Karma may be striking down others at some time
very soon.

Now I
believe all this is circumstantial and looks worse than it is. But I
must bring it all to you. Not because I am accusing, alleging, or
even inferring any individual of wrongdoing. It is out there in the
public domain has been discussed and published many times in many
places. Is it not time that we ask questions again?

Are some
members of the Gonsalves/Francis family complicit in the failure of
Buccament Bay Resort?

[What is great is how cell phone technology allows everyone nowadays to record all important events, picture, video, voice]

END

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