The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An ex-Cabinet minister yesterday promised to "fight to the bitter end", after a $2.57 million creditor obtained a Supreme Court-appointed receiver over his and his wife's assets.

Tennyson Wells told Tribune Business he and his wife, Stephanie, would co-operate with the receivers while still planning to appeal their dispute with Bahamas-domiciled Oshi Enterprises to the Privy Council.

He was speaking after this newspaper obtained a 'Notice of Appointment of Receivers', dated April 25, 2017, which revealed that the duo's law firm, Wells & Wells, together with their personal assets had been placed under the control of Supreme Court-appointed agents.

Raymond Winder, Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas) managing partner, was appointed as Wells & Wells' receiver on January 30, 2017, as a result of Orders made by Justice Indra Charles on November 2, 2016, and December 16, 2016.

He was charged with "taking possession and control of, and protecting the assets, monies, securities and property - real and personal - wherever located [that is] beneficially owned" by Wells & Wells, and Mr and Mrs Wells in their individual capacities.

The 'Notice', filed with the Registrar General's Department, shows that the receivership Order - obtained on Oshi Enterprises' petition - covers the Wells' interests in 12 separate companies and real estate assets.

Among the companies affected are Source River Holdings, the company that acquired the former Bacardi plant in southern New Providence and developed The Source River water product, plus Caribbean Gas Storage & Terminal Ltd; Sanctuary Investments Ltd; Standard Trading (1976) Ltd; Bahamian Shipping Inc; Hills Investment; Suburban Estates; and Win Investments Ltd.

Mr Wells is the lead developer in several prominent New Providence-based real estate projects, including Lyford Hills, South Seas and Yuma Estates, but he yesterday said the daily operations and management of these projects - together with the Source River and the other companies - would not be impacted by the receivership.

He emphasised that only his and his wife's direct interests in these entities were covered by the receivership, which on April 5, 2017, was placed under the Supreme Court's direct supervision. Mark Munnings, another Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas) accountant, was appointed to act as joint receiver with Mr Winder.

"Those companies have nothing to do with that," Mr Wells told Tribune Business. "They [the receivers] can't get anything out of them. Those companies are owned by other people. Myself and my wife have nothing in there. Nothing.

"Those companies are owned by different people. Whatever assets me and Stephanie have they are looking at. We have given them exactly what we have a long time ago."

Mr Wells said it was unlikely the receivers would earn any profits or dividends on his and his wife's holdings, adding: "You think any dividends will come from those companies in this day and age; over the last five, 10,15 years. There's nothing in them. They'll be waiting for years."

Other assets covered by the receivership Order include Columbus House, home to the Wells & Wells law firm, which is located on the corner of East and Shirley Streets in downtown Nassau.

Also listed are the couple's 10,000 shares in Bank of the Bahamas; 30 acres of land near Clarence Town, Long Island, and a house and lot in Blue Hill Estate.

Mr Winder, when contacted by Tribune Business yesterday, confirmed his and Mr Munnings' appointment as receivers over the assets of Mr Wells and his wife.

"We have been appointed receivers, and have met with Mr Tennyson Wells," he said. "We're looking at reviewing the various entities as listed with a view to determining his interest in them.

"Once we've done that review, we will be in a better position to see what further steps are necessary to secure the assets [Oshi] is looking for."

Mr Wells, meanwhile, said he and his wife were pursuing a 'twin track' approach - co-operation with the Supreme Court Orders and the receivers, while continuing their legal battle with Oshi Enterprises.

"We're prepared to fight them right to the bitter end," he told Tribune Business. "Damian Gomez filed the notice to go to the Privy Council. We gave him instructions, and have never heard from him since."

The Court of Appeal ruling that upheld Oshi Enterprises' $2.57 million arbitration award against the couple, and their law firm, was made in December 2015 - more than 18 months ago. There has been no sign of the matter being listed for hearing before the Privy Council.

In the meantime, Mr Wells added: "We recognise there's a court Order, and if it has reached that stage we will honour it. We told them what we'll pay, and that they could continue with the court.

"We will pay what we can afford: Simple. We offered them what we could do, myself and my children. If they don't take that, we'd pay it into court and pay them so much every month."

The receivership Orders and appointment stems from Oshi Enterprises' arbitration award against Wells & Wells due to a dispute over a $2.5 million 'arrangement fee'.

The two sides had agreed that Wells & Wells would act as the 'escrow agents' for the fee via a June 8, 2000, deal that was part of a larger banking transaction.

However, Oshi Enterprises claimed that Wells & Wells breached their agreement by "paying away" the arrangement fee and failing to return it. It also alleged that the latter failed to comply with other responsibilities relating to the banking deal.

Oshi Enterprises won its legal dispute with the Wells's at every stage in Paris and the UK. The legal action then shifted to the Bahamas when Oshi Enterprises sought to enforce its award. Justice Stephen Isaacs, in an August 5, 2011, ruling backed the previous two verdicts and applied a 3 per cent interest rate to the award until it was paid.

Justice Isaacs' ruling was not appealed, and was subsequently filed in the Supreme Court registry as a Judgment Order on July 24, 2013. It was served on Mr and Mrs Wells on August 30 that year, along with a Summons dated July 5, 2013.

Apart from executing the judgment, the Order also required Mr and Mrs Wells to provide Oshi Enterprises' attorneys with a list of all their assets - even those held in trust for others - within seven days.

Mr Wells and his wife had argued that they had been improperly served with the judgment Order against them, and that the former attorney-general was "inactive" as a partner in the law firm.

But Appeal Justice Jon Isaacs, in a ruling backed by his colleagues, found that Mr Wells could not escape liability for the actions of other partners simply because he was "inactive".

Mr Wells's attorneys also argued that it would have been illegal for him to remain a partner in the law firm because he was appointed to ministerial office during the first two Ingraham administrations.

The Court of Appeal, though, rejected this because the Bahamas Government Code of Ministerial Conduct allows ministers to retain their interests (equity holdings) in businesses - they are only prohibited from sharing in the profits, and must show they are 'inactive'.

This blocked the argument by Mr Wells's attorneys that the Wells & Wells partnership had to be dissolved under the Partnership Act's section 35, because an illegal act had taken place.

Mr Wells, a former attorney general, resigned from the Ingraham Cabinet in 1999, and unsuccessfully mounted a bid for the FNM leadership in 2001. He was subsequently re-elected to the House of Assembly as an independent MP between 2002 and 2007.

Mr Wells then retired from front-line politics to focus on his business interests.