Marriott Hotel’s private investors ‘yet to put a dollar’
- Brassington still seeking partners – Source
The Georgetown Marriott Hotel is being constructed in Kingston, Georgetown and to date the only official source of funding has been the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).
Winston Brassington
This publication understands that despite the announcement recently by Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI), its owners, the project is yet to receive the funding from its private investors, US$8M or the Republic Bank syndicated loan of US$27M.
Kaieteur News has learned that Ace Square Investments is yet to put in a single dollar, while Winston Brassington is busy running around trying to borrow a huge sum from a Trinidad Bank to help pay off the contractor who built the hotel with purely Chinese labour.
This publication has confirmed that Brassington was recently in China seeking new investors.
One source expressed dismay that Brassington and the Government of Guyana could be so irresponsible, not only in abusing public funds, but also entering into a transaction in which all of the risks are being borne by the taxpayers of this country for the benefit of a shady foreign investor.
To date, NICIL has officially expended almost US$20M building the Marriott Hotel in Kingston.
Brassington recently announced that Ace Square Investments Limited would be putting the US$8M required to own majority shares of the hotel, but ever since the announcement, the principals have never been presented to the Guyanese people, neither have the documents finalizing the financial agreements.
Another source has told Kaieteur News that it is not that Ace Square Investments Limited that is actually investing in the project, but that the hotel is being built for a leading political figure and his friends. The Marriott, according to the source, has been a scam from beginning to end.
The question of the land on which this hotel is being built and the use of public funds outside of the constitutional framework, is a matter which is engaging the attention of the court.
According to the source “This could have serious ramifications and implications for any investor…It is hoped that the court could be persuaded to hear soonest, the action that has been brought by a Member of Parliament (Donald Trotman) so as to protect public funds from being directed to greedy politicians.
Brassington, through AHI, earlier this year announced that a British Virgin Islands (BVI)-registered company, headed by two Chinese businessmen, will be the private investor in the project.
The Georgetown Marriott Hotel is being constructed in Kingston, Georgetown
AHI also announced that it has completed the financial arrangements with Republic Bank Ltd. for a syndicated loan of US$27M in debt financing for the project, but the nation is yet to see documentation verifying this claim.
According to Brassington, the principal investors in AHI are NICIL, which has invested US$4M, and BVI-registered ACE Square Investments Ltd.
ACE Square Investments Ltd. will acquire 67 per cent of the equity of AHI for US$8M but the company has reportedly invested none of the promised money.
The beneficial owners of the shares in ACE Square Investments Ltd., and the owners of the shares in ACE Square Investments Ltd., through a BVI-registered holding company, Big Splendor Limited, are Hong Kong businessmen, Victor How Chung Chan, and Xu Han.
The Marriott Hotel has been mired in controversy from its inception firstly with the rerouting of the sewerage system before any works had begun.
Prior to the NICIL money, Government had given Courtney Benn Contracting Services Limited a US$1M contract for the rerouting of the sewerage system in the Kingston locale. That contract was pulled after more than US$700,000 was paid over. It was then given to an overseas company, for a further US$2M.
AHI also leased the prime seven acres of shorefront property on which the hotel rests for a measly US$120 (G$24,000) per month with the option to buy.
