#Providenciales, Turks and Caicos – September 13, 2020 — Beaches Turks and Caicos, on Friday September 11, made a bombshell reveal; that its lawsuit against the Turks and Caicos Islands Government – filed in January 2019 – remains unresolved.
“The Government of the Turks and Caicos
Islands, as well as the other defendants, were legally due to file their
defence in June 2019 – well over a year ago. They did not. We have patiently
waited upon the Government to file its defence but to no avail.”
A Magnetic Media article, published on March
14, 2019 reported this:
An unprecedented interest rate of 213 percent, an audit which exonerated the family all-inclusive resort of fiscal misbehavior, a surprise bill of reported back taxes, breach of government’s own agreement and deviation from its own written assurances plus over-payment of taxes by Beaches are among the reasons, Sandals Resorts International says it is forced to move forward with the lawsuit against TCIG.
“It is indeed most unfortunate that we had to litigate against our host country, but given the injustice we had no alternative. Based on the number of communications that our organization has been receiving, it is clear that the investment and banking community together with the travel trade including the airlines are all paying close attention to see whether the Government will honor its commitments.”
Beaches T&C has not changed its stance and in the Friday
media statement claims the resort was compelled to file to take the matter to
court and could not withdraw the lawsuit due to a string of alleged injustices
perpetrated against them.
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The pending litigation had also threatened Beaches operations in
Providenciales; still government is accused of inaction.
“Our numerous meetings, conference calls and letters have led to no positive action on the part of TCIG. We remain anxious to resolve the matter in a lawful and principled manner but we cannot do so in an environment where our correspondence go unanswered, our law suit un-defended and our good faith overtures to engage in steps toward resolution are not reciprocated and have led nowhere despite assurances,” informed the statement issued by Beaches Resort Turks and Caicos.
The
charge against TCIG is becoming a common refrain. Magnetic Media continues to be on the receiving
end of complaints about the lack of response from Government Ministers and
Officials.
The reoccurring reports by members of the public fuelled an article on September 6, 2020 by Deandrea Hamilton, Magnetic Media owner, headlined: PDM Administration, the “NO REPLY” Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Beaches Resort adds to the growing list of frustrated stakeholders and candidly expressed its disappointment about the lack of progress in the legal matter.
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“No investor, and
in particular Beaches, wants to be involved in court proceedings with a host
Country. However, given the gravity of
certain fundamental breaches of our Development Agreement(s), such as
provisions relating to the payment of the Customs Processing Fee, Beaches had
no choice but to protect our legal and constitutional rights by filing a
lawsuit against the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands, which is available to the public. This occurred in
May 2019.”
The family all-inclusive, resort
village has been operating in Turks and Caicos since 1995. While negotiations in 2019 did result in a Revenue
Control Department amnesty that exempted Beaches and others from past due
payments and penalties, Beaches Resort informed our news organisation that the
gesture fell short.
“Since
1995 when we commenced operation in the TCI we have consistently and faithfully
paid taxes in accordance with our Development Agreement(s) and the laws of the
TCI. In 2017 TCIG unilaterally breached our Development Agreement(s) and other
written governmental commitments which over the years formed the basis of our
substantial investment in the TCI.
We have
over-performed on all our obligations to TCIG and the Government have virtually
“torn up” legally binding commitments given in writing as a basis for our
investment. As a foreign investor, international law assures us of fair and
equitable treatment by our host country, and one should expect no less from
TCIG.”
Magnetic Media
has reached out to the Minister of Finance, who is Premier Sharlene Robinson
about the statement from Beaches.
Hon Sharlene Robinson, TCI Premier & Minister of Finance
Beaches Resort, in the media release, said they have no further comment.
The general
public worries that this looming lawsuit could impact a planned reopening of
Beaches Resort Turks and Caicos on October 14.
Magnetic Media is a Telly Award winning multi-media company specializing in creating compelling and socially uplifting TV and Radio broadcast programming as a means for advertising and public relations exposure for its clients.
#TurksandCaicos, March 27, 2023 – Following the announcement that several women had been robbed and assaulted in Blue Hills in the past weeks, Magnetic Media queried why the Police would wait until they had a man in custody to release an alert.
TCI’s newest addition to the top brass Detective Superintendent Dean Holden, Head of Crime, Safeguarding and Public Protection, told us that it initially appeared to be an isolated offence and not part of a series of incidents.
“The full circumstances needed to be investigated to ascertain the facts before a public alert could be considered. Misinformation in such a case would only cause unnecessary public concern and confusion and could adversely impact the investigation and the safeguarding of persons involved—” he said. “Even now there is no definitive information that these offences are linked, and investigators remain open-minded.”
Holden claimed an early alert with limited information could have hindered the investigation and they were trying to protect the women who may not have wanted to be identified based on where they lived.
As it turns out, the public concern was very much warranted, because there have been more violent sexual attacks, and more victims got hurt, forcing their hands.
“When further similar offences were committed, the overriding principle of sustained public protection was considered, hence the alert/release issued,” he said.
That alert was coupled with the news that a man had been arrested. Whether those further similar incidents could have been prevented if the public was informed earlier and taken extra precautions, is the underlying question. To date, we don’t know how many victims there are.
Police have increased patrols in the Blue Hills area and condemned the crimes as unacceptable. They have not indicated if anyone was charged for the offences yet.
#TurksandCaicos, March 27, 2023 – After a festive three days of competition, the TCISS Inter-High Track & Field Championships 2023 have concluded with the A. Louise Garland Thomas High School reigning as Champions. Featuring a great turnout, eleven schools from across the Turks and Caicos Islands met to compete at the National Stadium March 9-11, 2023.
The competition was stiff among athletes, who were all competing for top spots and by extension a spot-on Team TCI’s CARIFTA 2023 team. From high-spirited invitationals to entertainment by DJ Shakes, spectators enjoyed the best Nationals competition yet.
Overall results:
1st Place: A. Louise Garland Thomas High School
2nd Place: Clement Howell High School
3rd Place: Marjorie Basden High School
Twenty athletes have been selected for Turks and Caicos Islands National CARIFTA Team, some who would have competed in the TCISS Inter-High Track & Field Championships 2023 and some living abroad.
#TurksandCaicos, March 27, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos recently hosted the head of the British Army who has now been made a member of the local regiment.
Patrick Sanders, Chief of the General Staff (CGS) spent a mid-March weekend in the country and it’s a visit Governor Nigel Dakin hopes will be rewarding for the TCI Regiment in the future. The Governor said as much in the Instagram post announcing the visit.
“He is now an Honorary Colonel of our Regiment. That’s an enormously important step for us because it gives our Regiment a champion working at the very top of UK Defence,” Dakin said.
The visit also included Lord Mark Lancaster, Former Minister for UK Armed Forces who Dakin acknowledged had championed the petition for OTs to even have their own military forces.
The men met cordially with the Regiment and then saw them in action officially. The Premier was also part of the meetings, so too the Maritime Police and Radar, the Tactical Firearms Unit and National Security Secretariat Dakin explained. The top man was impressed with the regiment as he told Dakin how proud he was to be associated with the troupe.
One stop in the tour was Dockyard, the Providenciales community where so much grief was felt and caused over the past year. Also a suspected have for illegal migrants and contraband.
“Very pleased to see this relationship established before leave. It says much about the distance already traveled and it bodes very well indeed for the Regiment’s future.” He said. Fitting that Dakin’s last guests should be Britain’s security experts considering his investment in Border security in the TCI during his tenure.
Dakin will bid the country farewell by the end of March.