The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Christie administration attempted to negotiate a settlement “significantly in excess” of the $4.4 million awarded to Arawak Homes by a Supreme Court judge for land previously seized by the Government.

The efforts by the Attorney General’s Office to resolve the dispute with the real estate developer, stemming from the first Ingraham administration’s decision to acquire its property in the Pinewood Gardens area, are detailed in Sunshine Holdings’ $20 million preference share offering document.

Sunshine Holdings, which owns 100 per cent of Arawak Holdings, discloses that its claim against the Government is valued at $6.3 million in its accounts.

That sum is almost $2 million, or 43 per cent, higher than the $4.4 million awarded to Arawak Homes in a judgment by former Supreme Court Justice Neville Adderley in October 2012.

That verdict was delivered around five months after the Christie administration took office, and it appears the new government attempted to resolve Arawak Homes’ claim via an out-of-court settlement soon after Justice Adderley delivered his judgment.

“As at July 31, 2014, the issuer’s [Sunshine Holdings] financial statements reflect a claim against the Government in the sum of approximately $6.3 million for land situated in Sir Lynden Pindling Estates, and acquired under the Acquisitions of Land Act,” the Sunshine Holdings offering document said.

“The quantum is based on a ruling by a judge of the Supreme Court, and the fact that the Office of the Attorney General subsequently sought to engage the issuer in a possible settlement at a level significantly in excess of the award. This process was not conclusive, and [Sunshine Holdings] continues with an appeal.”

As previously revealed by Tribune Business, businessman Franklyn Wilson owns a majority 56.79 per cent equity stake in Sunshine Holdings, with the next largest shareholder being Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) chairman, Bradley Roberts, with an almost 20 per cent stake.

Events have since overtaken the Attorney General’s Office’s efforts. The latter sentence in the Sunshine Holdings offering document is a reference to Arawak Homes’ appeal to the Court of Appeal, which recently delivered a verdict that gave the developer a partial victory.

The land at the centre of the dispute was acquired via two separate moves in the 1990s by the first Ingraham administration. It was used to construct the Cleveland Eneas and Sadie Curtis Primary Schools, plus part of the Charles W. Saunders Highway that links Pinewood Gardens to SeaBreeze Estates.

Appellate court president, Justice Anita Allen, in a December 22, 2014, verdict backed by her two fellow judges, gave some justification for Sunshine Holdings’ $6.3 million valuation.

For she increased the compensation award for the Cleveland Eneas land more than five-fold - from $160,000 to a collective $848,320.

Yet, while overturning the assessed ‘market value’ for the Sadie Curtis and Charles W. Saunders land, the Court of Appeal sent that issue back to the Supreme Court for re-determination - because the 1999 and 2001 Notice of Acquisitions involved “different lots of land”.

And Arawak Homes is still unable to collect a single cent of even the Cleveland Eneas award, the Court of Appeal upholding Justice Adderley’s verdict that its compensation remain in an interest-bearing escrow account.

This is required on the grounds that there are competing claims to Arawak Homes’ ownership of the land acquired by the Government, which will have to be resolved by another Supreme Court judge.

The competing claims to Arawak Homes’ land in the Pinewood Gardens and Sir Lynden Pindling Estates areas also figure prominently in Sunshine Holdings’ document.

The company says a major factor that will increase its profits by 36 per cent over the next three years, from just under $7 million to more than $9 million, is the Privy Council ruling that defeated the rival claims.

It is thus expecting a major boost from the settlements it expects 300-400 homeowners, who purchased their properties from vendors who did not have good title to the land they were selling, to reach with Arawak Homes.

Sunshine Holdings is forecasting “significant increases in the number of disputes resolved with persons who are encroaching on properties situated in Sir Lynden Pindling Estates but owned by Arawak Homes.

“In this regard, the Sunshine Holdings Group expects to benefit from a recent ruling by the Privy Council which speaks with clarity as to Arawak’s ownership of land and removes the excuses which affected parties have been using as excuses for delay.”