Seychelles resort saga continues

VICTORIA, Seychelles (eTN) – Asthe case of the forced closure of Seychelles’ largest resort hotel continueswithlawyer Bernard Georges seeking explanations from the Seychelles government’s agents as to what pushed them to issue the notice for the forced closure of a major foreign currency earner for the country.

VICTORIA, Seychelles (eTN) – Asthe case of the forced closure of Seychelles’ largest resort hotel continueswithlawyer Bernard Georges seeking explanations from the Seychelles government’s agents as to what pushed them to issue the notice for the forced closure of a major foreign currency earner for the country.

Marc Davison, a major shareholder in theowning company of the resort, wrote to Seychelles Attorney General Anthony Fernando to request a reply for his letter seeking theunderstanding of the Seychelles government to refer the closure of the Plantation Club and Resort forced and the liquidation of its owning company on to the “International Centrefor the Settlement of Investment Disputes.”

Davison has advised the tourism industry’s association that he explained in his letter that he still had notreceived a reply for his letter to the attorney general, dated March 26, 2008, requesting the republic’s consent to appeal for arbitration beforethe International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). He said that he was still presuming that the government,represented by the attorney general, would have no reason to doubt theimpartiality of this department of the World Bank and wanted to request aresponse to his request.

Davison added that he hoped that the Attorney General Fernando appreciated the perilous andimminent risk to his company’s investments and of their interests, caused by the government of Seychelles’ actions, and that he was seeking a resolution to the crisis without delay.

According to Davidson, he ended his letter by stating that if he had not heard from the attorney general by April 16, he would consider the silence onthe matter to be a response in the negative, and he would move to actaccordingly.

This week, the Attorney General’s Office, on a letterhead of thePresident’s Office Department of Legal Affairs, wrote to Mr Davison saying:- “We write to inform you that the government of Seychelles is not agreeable tosubmit to an arbitration before the ICSID.”

On Tuesday, May 13, the acting chief justice, Judge Perera , led a delegation to thePlantation Clun Hotel and Casino to see firsthand the state of the country’slargest hotel, which was until its forced closure a major source of hard currency for the country.

JudgePerera also this week took exception to a private visit to the closed resort bya representative of the Attorney General’s Office. Appointed liquidator Ernst & Young, a Mauritius-based company, met the government’s Legal Representativewithout advising the owners of the resort and their lawyers.
Accounting firms in Seychelles have seen the appointment of the Mauritian company as aslap in their face and one that is sending a message that Seychelles lacks credible accounting firms and offshore-registered companies have been heardseeking explanations about that loss of confidence issue.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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