Another 50 acres of land recovered by the Civil recovery team, takes the total amount recovered so far to 2,500 acres; with cash recovered or ordered recovered, to nearly $19.5 million.
Attorney General, Huw Shepheard announced today (Thursday 11th April), that the Turks & Caicos Islands Government has recovered 50 acres of land falling within the Chalk Sound National Park and Pigeon Pond and Frenchman’s Creek Nature Reserve, following legal proceedings brought by the Civil Recovery Team against Holiday Resort Dev., Ltd.
In a judgment recently handed down after a trial in February 2013, Justice Margaret Ramsey Hale ordered parcel 60300/35 to be returned to the TCIG. She also ordered the Defendant, Holiday, to pay TCIG’s costs of the claim.
Here’s Damen Boviewith more.
Holiday had entered into a Land Freeze Agreement with the Government in July 2002, which provided it with a right to purchase Crown land if it satisfied certain obligations, including the construction of a road linking the site to the Millennium Highway. It was a term of that agreement that the company would be entitled to set off from the purchase price the costs it incurred in constructing the road.
Parcel 60300/35 was transferred to Holiday Resort Dev., Ltd on 10 January 2008. No payment was made by the company and the transfer indicated that it was in consideration for the work that had been undertaken in constructing the road.
The Court found that the land had been transferred to Holiday Resort Dev., Ltd. under the mistaken belief that Holiday had satisfied its obligations under the Land Freeze Agreement, when it had not. The Court also found that the parties had been mistaken as to the costs incurred in constructing the road, which had been very modest.
Accordingly, the Government was entitled to recover the land and parcel 60300/35 will revert to the Crown.
Attorney General Huw Shepheard expressed his pleasure at the success of this case, noting this is an important site, which will now revert to being Crown Land.
“It is another success for the Civil Recovery programme being run by Edwards Wildman and Chambers together. This takes the total amount of land recovered under the programme to over 2,500 acres – a very substantial amount of land across the Islands of enormous long term value to the country; and the cash recovered or ordered to be recovered to nearly $19.5m,” AG Huw Shepheard added.
This is Damen Boviefor RTC News.
