By: Staff Writer
June 29, 2021
A major developer in Grenada is saying that the prime minister is baseless in his claims that they wanted government funds to help fund a Citizenship by Investment (CBI) project claims they “had no choice” but World Bank arbitration.
True Blue Development, in a statement sent to Caribbean Magazine Plus, responding to assertions made by Grenadian prime minister, Dr Keith Mitchell said firstly that the company’s principal, Warren Newfield, “took on his diplomatic positions as ambassador-at-large and consul general years before the Kimpton Kawana Bay resort project was conceived. He assumed both of these roles on a voluntary basis without compensation expressly to promote economic development in Grenada and to help the government attract more international investors. Indeed, he brought investors to Grenada, attracted to projects totally unrelated to his own.”
Mr Newfield resigned as Ambassador at large last month under controversy and allegations by prime minister Mitchell that Newfield did not disclose that he wanted to use CBI to raise money for his Kimpton Kawana Bay project and did not disclose this to the government. Dr Mitchell also said that Mr Newfield needed to show he had enough money in escrow to show that his company was capable of completing the project as drafted and presented to the government.
TBD’s statement also said, “True Blue Development has an investment contract in place with the government for the development of the Kimpton Kawana Bay project, pursuant to which the government of Grenada authorized True Blue to sell $99m worth of real estate assets through Grenada’s CBI program. It is the government that arbitrarily withdrew its authorization for the Kimpton Kawana Bay project budget, thereby breaching its contractual obligations and international treaty obligations to True Blue Development.
“After months of trying to accommodate the government’s many bizarre requests for new approvals that were already in place, it became clear that the government was engaged, as our filing to ICSID states, in a deliberate effort to squeeze the project into failure. We had no choice but to press our legal claims to protect our investment and those of our fellow investors through an international investor forum at the World Bank.”
TBD filed claims against the Government of Grenada at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in early June asserting that the government of Grenada has blocked their efforts to complete the Kimpton Kawana Bay resort on the island. Washington-based ICSID is an arm of the World Bank devoted to resolving international investment disputes against sovereign states. They also claimed the Mitchell administration was trying to “squeeze it into failure.”
Responding to direct allegations that TBD wanted Grenadian funds to complete the project the release continued, “Importantly, the developers of Kimpton Kawana Bay have not used any Grenadian funds as has been asserted. All funds for the project have come directly and exclusively from True Blue investors and CBI purchasers, as expressly approved and planned in the $99m budget.
“It’s worth noting that True Blue provided the government with opinion from qualified auditors that all CBI funds have been properly deployed in development of Kimpton Kawana Bay and that absolutely nothing has been misappropriated or unaccounted for. The government’s insinuation is baseless and designed to be damaging to our project and to our reputation.”
TBD added: “Further, Kimpton Kawana Bay maintains its own independent and highly qualified sales team, who had succeeded in securing a near total commitment of invested purchases in the project to date. In short, the government of Grenada has simply not honoured its contractual obligations.”
Dr Mitchell in comments made in parliament on the matter in late May, sent to us via a press release by his press liaison, it said: “it is clear that there was no issue with diplomatic representation, but instead with Government policies relating to the country’s CBI programme.
“The Prime minister quoted from Section 7 of the Grenada Citizenship by Investment (Approved Projects Investment) Regulations, which specifically states that, ‘Every developer shall use all qualifying investment amounts received for an approved project for the sole purpose of the development of the particular approved project’.
“Dr. Mitchell affirmed that, “Government has a fundamental responsibility to ensure that this is done. Further, if there is any hint that an entity’s actions are contrary to this provision, Government has a duty to investigate and put measures in place to address the same. The fact that this developer was a member of the diplomatic community, up until his resignation yesterday, made it even more important to ensure that his actions were in keeping with the laws of this country.”