Ripped off

Were Osborne and Victor ripped off in London? A Chinese website seems to think so. China Travel Industry News is the ChinaContact Blog that claims to collect and expertly analyse all the news about China’s tourism sector. Those who read and listen to the local media will recall that at last week’s press conference the Chief Minister and the Minister of Finance reported on their activities during the previous week in London. They had gone there ostensibly to negotiate an increase in the Anguilla government’s borrowing powers. Britain holds a tight leash on the power of overseas territories’ governments to engage in borrowing that might come back to be a burden on the British Treasury Department.

While in London, the government delegation engaged in a number of unrelated, spur-of-the-moment activities. One of these adventures was to sign a contract with the Chinese Business Network. This is a London-based translation service. According to the Anguilla Minister of Finance, for a “very minimum fee of ₤5,500 Anguilla will be registered on their network. They will translate Anguilla’s promotion on their website and maintain it over a period . . .”. So Victor is reported as telling the Anguilla press.

What the China Travel Industry News Blog hints is that Anguilla was overcharged. A competitive pricing for the service contracted would have been more in the region of ₤1,500. We did not need the Blog to tell us that our government does not have a clue about how to market us. We did not need to have it rubbed in our face that we often act in a rash way without investigating the market properly. But, that is exactly what they imply about our leaders’ wild initiative:

For comparison, we charge our clients for building a Chinese version site and hosting it in China for a year around £500 + £200 for the hosting and registration of own domain name. Translation is an extra few hundred but the whole thing does not go over £1,500.

The point I am illustrating is that so many countries that are new destinations for the Chinese have no clue about how to market themselves and they often act in a rash way without investigating the market properly and seeing if their expectations are realistic.

What we at ChinaContact are hoping to do is raise the level of education and awareness about the Chinese market in an honest and transparent way. It is easy to lose control of your marketing if you don’t understand the market for yourself.

If only our boys had sought and taken a little advice first while they were in London!

Why do we have to be so cowboy about everything?

Self-government

Increased self-government in our island must be accompanied by checks and balances. Social commentator Henry Jolson has an eye-opening article in the TCI Journal on how unrestrained Ministers in the Turks and Caicos Islands used the powers of self-government vested in them by the Constitution to abuse and exploit their people and the country’s resources.

The article begins with this paragraph:

Currently there is a lot of spin going around by PNP Government supporters, spin doctors, pseudo nationalists, CARICOM and persons who apply history in a convenient manner ignoring the realities of today’s history. Unlike the old days of conquest, imperialism and slavery, the TCI suffers from a form of conquest and abuse meted by duly elected members of the TCI Government. There is certainly a paradigm shift and routinely islanders are denied rights, jobs, opportunities by the elected government of the day. Yet owing to a decided vesting of powers and policy control in the elected Government, there is nothing the British Government can do to stop this runaway Government unless it removes the Government.

Read the entire article, and think of Anguilla.

Attorney Robert D’Arceuil has a very readable general article on constitutional reform in the same publication.

He looks forward to the next Constitution with this hope:

The new constitution will contain many other features principles and objectives than are set out here. The public debate will give the people of the islands a chance to decide on the shape and scope of the constitution so that its higher aims will benefit the people and the way they want to live. The objective of accountability and equal protection before the law, openness and transparency have to be realised this time around. The goal of transparency must be achieved. Above all else people seek equal rights and equal protection before the law.

I think his words are very applicable to us in Anguilla. We cannot continue with the same old close-ended freeness in government where only the friends of Ministers get work permits to bring in cheap labour, and only those with the right influence can have the ExCo overrule the planning board’s decisions.

We are tired of it all. We look forward to a brighter day.

Constitution

Hon Victor Banks announces that the Anguillian delegation that went to London discussed the “draft” constitution. Tonight is Thursday night. I was just flicking through the TV channels, as idle men are wont to do. There is no TV programming in Anguilla. You must go ‘click’, ‘click’, ‘click’ just to find out what is happening. As a typical man, that is not a problem. That is what we all do from 8:00 to 10:00 every night anyway.

There was Victor, looking very exhausted, I may say, on Channel 12, announcing with all the insousiance that he could muster, that the Anguillian team had discussed the ‘draft constitution’ with the British legal advisors. The British, he casually admitted, had presented some ‘concerns’ to the Anguillian team. It was the middle of the Chief Minister's weekly press conference. I did not even know they were back from London.

Will we ever learn what was presented to the British by our team?

Will we ever learn what the British team’s comment was?

All the rest was rubbish, IMHO.

PS: I hope Victor was truly embarrased at whatever the British told him about their views on Lolita's draft Constitution.

PPS: Who authorised them to discuss the Anguilla Constitution with the British?

Marketing

I would have thought that the artist’s renditions on the early promotional material would have been preferable to the barren scenes depicted by these photographs. I have just been looking at the latest promotional material produced by Viceroy. The above is the conclusion I came to as a result. The architect’s elevations and drawings in circulation some years ago were quite attractive. By comparison, the real thing as depicted by these latest photographs is about as close a resemblance to Alcatraz prison as you can get. Have a look for yourself and tell me whether you are attracted.

View of the Point from the water

Entrance

Walkway

Seafront apartments

Hotel

Shearwater and Royal Tern Villas

View of the Specialty Restaurant from the water

Shearwater villas

Residences

What seems to be their spanking new website can be seen at Viceroy Anguilla.

Their ownership opportunities page gives you lots of pictures of sea fans and exotic marine life.

But, I can’t find out what I get for my million dollars if I purchase a residence there. Will I be acquiring the Anguilla equivalent of freehold, called under our law ‘title absolute’? Or, am I perhaps acquiring a 99 year ‘lease’? Or, perhaps, it will be a ‘strata lot’ registered under the Condominium Act? That would be as good as real property. Anything else would be, in my opinion, mere vapour, gas, a mirage of real property.

Purchasers, I am told by one who has been in communication with me, are not encouraged to retain their own local lawyer to advise them on what exactly it is they are acquiring. Purchasers are under the impression that they can use the professional services provided by the seller! Can it be that even today there are buyers who are so naïve? I am certain they would not be so innocent in their own home country if they were acquiring a multi-million dollar home. They would have the best lawyer around advising them on their investment.

Some real estate speculators and developers in various parts of the world are selling ownership of imaginary real estate under the name of ‘club residences’ and the like. In Anguilla at least, such a purchase does not result in the ownership of real estate. What is acquired is nothing more than a contractual interest. The problem with contracts, as compared to an interest in real estate, is that a contract can fail or come to an end for one reason or another. When that happens, the purchaser has nothing more than a hope of suing for breach of contract. A contractual interest is most certainly not the same thing as an interest in land. Most people investing their hard-earned savings in a multi-million dollar piece of real estate are under the natural impression that they are acquiring an interest in the real estate.

It can’t be that Viceroy would be selling ‘timeshare’ as real estate in Anguilla. Timeshare, like condominium, can be a valid interest in land. But, it takes a statute to make it possible. There is no timeshare law in Anguilla. In Anguilla it is impossible to acquire as real estate a timeshare interest in a villa or apartment. It is possible to create a contract that claims to offer a ‘timeshare’ interest, but such a contract has the defect that all such contracts have: it is not an interest in realty in Anguilla. Anyway, Viceroy’s representative has assured me that Viceroy is not selling timeshares.

A pretend interest in land can also take the form of an equity interest in a company that holds the title to the real property. In such a scenario, a company owns the title to the real estate, and the individual purchasers actually acquire no more than shares in the company. But, again, this is not an interest in real estate. It is only an interest in personal property, shares in a company. If, for any reason, the company should go under, the shareholders are left with worthless equity. Well-advised investors will only purchase real estate in a country where the law recognizes and protects interests in real property.

On Sunday I sent an email inquiry to Viceroy's Phillip Day, inquiring what real estate interest does the purchaser of an apartment, or residence as they call it, acquire. He replied:

In response to your e-mail, Viceroy Anguilla does not sell "apartments." Viceroy Anguilla is selling one, two and three bedroom condominium residences along with four and five bedroom free-standing villas. As I mentioned before, Viceroy Anguilla does not sell "time-shares" or any other partial type of ownership commonly referred to as "fractional."

. . . At closing, each purchaser receives a title insurance policy from Stewart Title guaranteeing fee simple ownership of the residence free of any liens, encumbrances or other title exceptions, excepting, the following: (i) applicable laws, regulations and ordinances; (ii) the condominium documents that establish and govern Viceroy's condominium homeowners association; (iii) easements, rights-of-way, covenants, restrictions and other encumbrances that affect the condominiums; (iv) all easements, rights-of-way and notes shown on the recorded development plan; (v) easements, claims of easements, not shown by public record (vi) discrepancies or conflicts in boundaries, easements, encroachments, rights-of-way, encroachments or area content that a satisfactory current land title survey would disclose; (vi) possible additional tax assessment by reason of new construction of improvements, not yet due and payable; and (viii) the statutory rights and easements granted to the Seller as Declaring under the condominium documents by the Government of Anguilla, British West Indies.

Every Viceroy Anguilla purchaser is provided with copies of all condominium documents for their examination and approval many months prior to closing. All Viceroy Anguilla purchasers are advised verbally and in writing to consult their own attorney about the purchase.

The Stuart Title referred to is a US title insurance company that usually guarantees title to deeded property held by fee simple ownership. It is useful to have title insurance in the case of deeded property. There is no deeded realty in Anguilla. A person purchasing real estate in Anguilla will expect to get 'absolute title', which is a land title already guaranteed by law.

All real property in Anguilla is registered title under the Registered Land Act. A guarantee by a private company of my absolute title to my property is about as meaningfull as my guaranteeing to you that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow. The laws of the planets and the stars already guarantee that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow. Registered title means that the Act imposes an obligation on the government of Anguilla to guarantee title. Title once registered is guaranteed by law. No private company can give a better or stronger title guarantee that the Act and the Constitution of Anguilla.

Given that there is no fee simple title to land in Anguilla [it was abolished by law in 1974], I have difficulty understanding how Stuart Title will guarantee that that is just what a purchaser will receive. This must be a mistaken understanding by Mr Day about the law of Anguilla. I have previously pointed this out to him, but he does not seem to understand the point.

Do make sure to get your own lawyer to advise you on any purchase of a 'residence'. I am certainly no expert, never having seen any of the contractual or title documents.

Flag Luxury

I think I have shown conclusively that I am not knowledgeable enough about the real estate business. So says Robert FX Sillerman of himself. Judging from an article in this weekend's Guardian Newspaper, it appears that he is walking away from the real estate business in both the USA and in Anguilla.

Graceland's Heartbreak Hotel swimming pool

According to the author of the Guardian article, journalist James Doran in New York, Sillerman is quoted as saying,

"I think I have shown conclusively that I am not knowledgeable enough about the real estate business," he said. "I think I should leave it to other people to pursue."

His decision comes amid a flurry of lawsuits surrounding the construction of a luxury golf resort on the Caribbean island of Anguilla. The project has failed and is in default on loans and guarantees. "That project has stopped," he said, "I'm not in the real estate business."

The Swiss banking group Credit Suisse last week filed a lawsuit seeking repayment of more than $21m (£12.8m) in guarantees; another company, Anguilla Equity Partners, is seeking more than $25m in relation to the same project.

Sillerman said he has spent so much of his fortune on the Anguilla project that he should not have to pay Credit Suisse. "I was originally asked to invest somewhere around $15m," he said. "But since then I have put in about $200m of my own money just to keep it going."

Court papers filed in Manhattan last week show that he has indeed spent a further $180m on the hotel complex. One schedule of costs shows he has been spending more than $200,000 a month just to water the $12m championship golf course designed by Greg Norman.

Note that he appears to be walking away from the Anguilla project. There is no suggestion that he hopes to rescue it in due course, as some of us have been half hoping. Nor is there is any hint that he expects that anyone else is going to buy it from him.

It will be up to Credit Suisse to try to recover its lost loan investment in whatever way it can. Other investors and creditors and plaintiffs in the law suits will have to see what they can seize and sell.

Simon Cowell

As for Mr Sillerman himself, who said he would not walk away from US$200 million? His media and entertainment empire is not suffering from the recession. A 20 May article in USA Today suggests that American Idol is doing fine. On 13 July in a complex corporate restructuring Simon Cowell and Sillerman announced that their partnership will continue into the future after Cowell’s present contract with American Idol comes to an end in 2010. There is no shortage of money in Mr Sillerman’s coffers. Just don’t ask him to spend any more of it on Anguilla.

Mr and Mrs Robert FX Sillerman

When Credit Suisse and the other creditors come calling, it certainly will not be with any intention of protecting the interests of Anguillians. That had been one of Sillermans motives all along. And, look where it got him!

The abandoned Flag Luxury Resort in Anguilla

Borrowing

Anguilla’s Government visiting London to negotiate increased borrowing power. I heard on Radio Anguilla news that Jamaica is negotiating a huge loan with the IMF. I think I heard something like $1.2 billion.

The Jamaica Observer has an interesting interview with Dr DeLisle Worrell. He deals with the issue of government borrowing. I urge you to read it. The most relevant paragraph, I thought, was:

The nature of our economies is that you have to be very careful on the nature of your fiscal spending - that you don't overspend beyond what your taxes will bring in and what you can borrow from domestic markets. If you go beyond that then you tend to create additional spending over and above what your foreign exchange earnings will support. If you do make that mistake you have to correct it fairly promptly. I think the failure of Jamaica and Guyana in particular, was that they allowed that situation of imbalances on their fiscal accounts which had very adverse and persistent effects on their balance of payments.

What do our leaders want to increase borrowing for? Is it for the big infrastructure projects due to start in 2010? I hear that several election hopes are resting on these projects providing jobs for the boys.

If so, guess who will be paying dearly in the years to come.

Perhaps I would not be so worried if they had told us what it was all about, and what the money was really for.

Agincourt

Who were the true fighters of the Anguilla Revolution of 1967? I read in History Today News that a searchable database containing 250,000 service records of English soldiers who saw active duty in the latter phases of the Hundred Years War was published online yesterday, July 20^th 2009. The database is part of a research project about soldiers in English royal armies between 1369 and 1453 led by Dr Adrian Bell at the International Capital Market Association, University of Reading, and Professor Anne Curry from the University of Southampton.

Based on the study of historic records, such as the proceedings of the Court of Chivalry, muster rolls records in the National Archives at Kew, and archives at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, researchers have created complex profiles of individual soldiers in what is now considered England’s first professional army. The database notably includes the names of many archers who served with King Henry V at Agincourt, details of where individual soldiers fought and for how long, which campaigns they fought in, how much they were paid, who was ill and unable to fight, who was knighted and who advanced in rank as a result of military success.

Is it not amazing this kind of detail can be reproduced after over six hundred years?

Can we in Anguilla put together a similar database of the local militia who fought in our Anguilla Revolution forty-two years ago?

In the Anguilla of today there is hardly anyone of the Revolution era who does not claim to have risked their life to defend Anguilla. How many of them are fraudsters who ran off to St Kitts with the Customs records or whatever?

Even if the Peacekeeping Committee of 1967 had had a formal army, with pay and other records, some civil servant would have burned them by now, claiming they were confidential. Or, perhaps the space was needed in the filing cabinets. The truly confidential records, like the day books containing the most detailed records of people’s intimate medical conditions, when they farted, and when they had a bowel movement, were abandoned at the Cottage Hospital when it was vacated. They were rescued and donated to the National Archives. I hope they are still there in the room behind the court house. How much longer will they survive neglect and carelessness?

Who would have known otherwise that Neil Rogers acted as Dr Arjoon Jagan’s surgical assistant as he washed his hands and operated on patients in what we now call the good old days?