In a follow up to a release sent to RTC News by AG Huw Sheppard, PNP has responded with the following:
Today the Attorney General issued a press statement regarding proceedings issued in his name on behalf of TCIG against the Progressive National Party (PNP) for recovery of the Party’s headquarters located on Airport Road, Providenciales. The Statement sets out in some detail the nature and amount of TCIG’s claim.
I am instructed by the PNP in the matter of the claim (except at this stage for the matter of service) and make the following comments on its behalf.
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I do not consider that TCIG has as yet “served civil proceedings on the Progressive National Party” as the statement asserts. I believe that their method of service does not meet the requirements of TCI procedural law and until the mistake is corrected, the Party has no formal notice of the proceedings and does not have to respond. That issue has been brought to the attention of the Attorney General’s Chambers, but might in the end require the attention of the Court.
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I believe that the trespass claim is entirely misconceived. The Party has been in open possession of the Airport Road property since at least 2005 with the full knowledge of the leaders of every Government Department concerned with dealings in crown land and with their acquiescence, if not consent. This includes the then Governor, Richard Tauwhare who throughout remained the ultimate authority for the management and disposition of crown lands. This is the same Governor of whom and from whom the people of the TCI have heard nothing since his departure and in respect of whose role in the matters now under investigation no one in the FCO has seen fit to explain. That is disrespectful.
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Provident Management Services Ltd did not sub-lease six offices in the Headquarters building to PNP MPs. Provident leased the offices to TCIG. Those leases were signed off on behalf of TCIG by the Head of Department having control of the relevant vote. Furthermore those leases were identical to leases entered into by TCIG in Grand Turk, South Caicos and North and Middle Caicos for the constituency offices of Members of Parliament, including constituency offices for PDM Members of Parliament. That assertion is therefore false.
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The PNP has never disputed TCIG’s right to a reasonable annual rent, nor payment of the market value of the land. That is therefore a non-issue, the litigation of which can only be justified in the context of the gravy train that the SIPT and Civil Recovery teams now ride on the backs of the TCI people.
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As for damages for trespass, I believe any reasonable person would agree that the land has been developed and improved rather than injured. I would also be surprised if anyone, regardless of their political allegiance would agree (even if TCIG were to win its case) that pulling down and destroying a perfectly good building makes any kind of sense.
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The settlement discussions to which the AG refers were not successful because they were not undertaken in good faith by him and his clients, the Governor and the FCO. They are hell-bent on issuing this final embarrassment to the PNP as an institution. The Party is hell-bent on ensuring its survival as a pillar of the parliamentary democracy that our constitutions since 1976 have provided for, and to ensure that the Party is a force for good in the affairs of our country.
I am specifically instructed to call upon the AG, the Governor and the FCO to withdraw these unnecessary proceedings, the consequence of which will only enrich the Civil Recovery team lawyers at the expense of the TCI taxpayer. In keeping with my instructions I invite the AG and the Governor to return to the negotiation table and make a good faith attempt to reach a reasonable settlement of these issues and thereby save some of the $33 million they have committed the TCI people to paying their lawyers over the next several years.
In any case, the PNP is committed to rigorously defending and defeating these spurious claims brought by the Interim Government, purportedly on behalf of the people.
Carlos W. Simons QC
Attorney
Progressive National Party.
