| Third Turtle developers facing legal action | | Print | |
| Written by Richard Green/richard@fptci.com | |||
| Thursday, 10 February 2011 12:54 | |||
 Richard Padgett and his Oceanpoint Developments Ltd. are accused of paying more than $1.1 million to former Turks and Caicos Islands Premier Michael Misick and Minister Floyd Hall to get special treatment for the dormant Third Turtle Club and Spa, the government says. Because of those allegedly corrupt payments, the government is asking the Supreme Court to cancel the development agreement for the project and all the related permits, plus unspecified damages and court costs. Padgett could not be reached for comment, and telephones went unanswered at Oceanpoint Developments. However, his lawyer, Aziz Rahman of the U.K. law firm Rahman Ravelli Solicitors, issued this statement Feb. 11: "Mr. Padgett has a long and blameless history as a successful businessman and is disappointed by this development. We will forcefully protect our client's interests using all our expertise and experience in these matters and ensure that his side of the story is heard. At this early stage we are unable to comment further.’’ Most of the payments were revealed during the Commission of Inquiry in January 2009, and Sir Robin Auld recommended in his July 2009 report that those transactions be investigated. The Third Turtle property at the mouth of Turtle Cove Marina has been idle since the east end of Babalua Beach was renourished with sand dredged from the marina in 2009. Padgett announced in March 2010 that he was abandoning six years of work and $21 million spent on the five-story, multi-phase condo/hotel, spa and marina. The original Third Turtle Inn which was located on the site was the first hotel and restaurant on Providenciales, opening in the 1960s. “The procedural process has been challenging at times,” Padgett said at the time. A month later, the interim government’s Civil Recovery Team of lawyers announced that Third Turtle was one of several developments under review as a result of the Commission of Inquiry. The action filed Jan. 14 by the attorney general and the recovery team alleges that Padgett paid a total of $310,000 to Misick and Hall’s Progressive National Party and loaned $200,000 to Hall. Oceanpoint allegedly gave $375,000 to Hall, who gave $161,618.92 of it to Misick. The company also gave $228,672.08 worth of shares in Elite TCI to Hall’s wife, Lisa, the complaint says. A government press release Feb. 8 claims that Padgett and Oceanpoint used “a series of corrupt transactions (namely, secret commissions, illicit rewards or inducements, and/or bribes provided or paid to Michael Misick and Floyd Hall, both directly and indirectly and through payments to the Progressive National Party)” to get favorable treatment for a development agreement and concessions, including an appeal of height restrictions. The Planning Department restricted the height of the development to three stories, but Padgett appealed to the Cabinet, which overruled that restriction to allow seven stories. Padgett settled for five stories. These are the latest set of proceedings issued by the Civil Recovery Team since it began work at the end of 2009. Other actions so far include:
“The Civil Recovery Team continues to be involved in a substantial number of active recoveries, and further sets of proceedings are expected to be brought,” the government said. The team has previously said that the Dellis Cay development was under review. The team has also been looking into recovering Crown land from people and companies refusing to make lease payments. The government said it recently was awarded $37,500 in arrears and $2,308.22 in interest from Front Door Holdings Ltd. but has not seized the property because the Court of Appeal ruled that the government didn’t give enough notice. “This issue has been corrected and a second notice has already been served on Front Door Holdings Ltd, and has not been complied with,” the government said Feb. 8. “The government is therefore entitled to recover the land and will be moving to recover the land shortly.”
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