A secret from whom? - Hotel talks no secret, say officials

Hotel owners say sales talks above board

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

THE key personalities involved in the negotiations for the sale of the Sandals Whitehouse hotel in Westmoreland have dismissed claims that the talks were being held in secret.

"Secret? What secret talks? We have had numerous meetings but we have not yet come to any decision. Nobody has said to me this is being done in secret. There is no need for that," said R Danvers 'Danny' Williams, the man who was called in by the parties to chaperone over what has been difficult year-long negotiations.

His sentiments were echoed by Wayne Chen, the chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and Milverton Reynolds, managing director of the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), heads of the two state-owned companies which together control 63 per cent of the shares.

The remainder is owned by Gorstew, the holding company for Gordon 'Butch' Stewart's Sandals/ATL companies which include the Jamaica Observer.

The entity through which the Sandals Whitehouse hotel is owned is called ANDCO whose chairman is Joe Matalon, also chairman of the DBJ.

Sandals Whitehouse is the hotel at the centre of a legal storm over who is responsible for a US$43-million cost overrun, and over which Gorstew had sued the then Vin Lawrence-run UDC to recover money lost and reputation damaged.

The Office of the Contractor-General (OCG) yesterday wrote to the Cabinet Secretary and simultaneously released to the media queries over the proposed sale of the Sandals Whitehouse hotel.

The OCG said it was basing its questions on a report in the cash-strapped Sunday Herald newspaper, which alleged that negotiations with leading Jamaican and Caribbean hotelier, Gordon 'Butch' Stewart for the sale of the Government's shares in the hotel, was being done in "secret".

"In the event that the allegations are true, the OCG's letter of enquiry has also sought to obtain a broad range of information and documentation regarding the proposed divestment," the OCG said in its release.

"Having regard to the serious issues which have been raised by the allegations which were made in the referenced Sunday Herald newspaper articles, the OCG is respectfully requesting that the information which has been formally requisitioned herein be forwarded to it, to the attention of the Contractor General, by the close of business on Wednesday, December 29, 2010," the OCG told Cabinet Secretary Douglas Saunders.

Saunders who was apparently in Cabinet at the time the OCG release was issued to the media, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But Danny Williams, the giant insurance personality and former PNP minister of industry, said he had been invited by the UDC/DBJ and Gorstew to assist the negotiations after months of difficult but fruitless talks.

Williams said it was impossible to keep talks secret when all the board members of the three entities which own the hotel "are fully in the loop".

Chen said he wouldn't know what the newspaper meant by saying "secret" because all the shareholders were aware of the discussions on the possibility of divesting the government's shares in the hotel.

"A secret from whom?" Chen asked.

He said the negotiations were being held with one of the three shareholders, Gorstew who was also the operator of the hotel and who had rights of first refusal.

"There is nothing untoward in this," Chen added.

DBJ's Reynolds declared "we would never do any such thing" as to hold talks in secret on the sale of the hotel.

Matalon could also not be reached up to Observer press time.