The Editor
The Anguillian
The Valley
Anguilla

Dear Editor,

THE PEOPLE NEED TO BE TOLD THE FACTS ON THE ADAM ARON CAP JULUCA DEAL

Thank you for the opportunity to make a few comments regarding the alleged sale of Cap Juluca to a new group led by Mr. Adam Aron.

The Government and the Gencom group signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in July last year that should have enabled Gencom to finalize its agreement with Dion Friedland to acquire Cap Juluca, renovate and undertake a major expansion of the property. By now Gencom should have been happily moving forward with its plans for Cap Juluca.

But no! Lo and behold, by late in 2007 the mortgage crisis broke in the USA. Many speculators had no choice but to unceremoniously halt their unbridled speculation and try to limit the huge losses that they faced overnight. Gencom and Goldman Sachs, its principal financier on the Cap Juluca project, quickly abandoned their Cap Juluca deal. They gave the people of Anguilla a worthless New Year’s gift, advising the Government of their decision to abandon the project. After all the hoopla and false hope that had been communicated to the Anguillian community over a period of approximately one year, emphasizing how great Gencom’s plans were for Cap Juluca, it all crumpled as soon as the expansion in the US real estate market came to a halt and the mortgage crisis set in. The Government and the people of Anguilla invested much into achieving the Gencom Cap Juluca deal all to no avail.

In comes Adam Aron. The dust had hardly settled before the rumours began to surface and gradually began to take on substance. Cap Juluca had a new buyer. Early in the new Aron-Friedland game, Adam Aron claimed to have a purchase agreement with Friedland. When confirmation was sought from the Government, they could not confirm that this was the case.

The game changed significantly in the last few weeks. Aron issued a press release appearing in the Anguilla and St. Maarten press in the week of April 7 – 11. It announced that his newly formed Anguilla registered company, Cap Juluca Properties Ltd. had acquired Cap Juluca from Dion Friedland. The following week US$1.0 million was paid out to Cap Juluca’s employees. The distribution was claimed to be the fulfillment of Friedland’s promise to give this amount to employees in ex gratia payments.

The Government has been noticeably silent during all of this. The Government should clear the air in a conclusive way and let the Anguilla public know the status of Adam Aron’s claim that he has already acquired ownership of Cap Juluca. Is this going to be déjà vu all over again? Is it going to be another Gencom? It is well for the public to be reminded that Gencom made a similar claim in late October 2006. This turned out to be false. Further, it turned out that up to and following the signing of the MOA with the Government in August 2007, Gencom did not have a final agreement with Friedland. Ultimately their decision to give up their MOA with the Government, it has been rumoured, was significantly influenced by the difficulties they encountered in reaching a final agreement with Friedland.

The Anguillian community in general, and the Cap Juluca’s employees in particular want to see a fair, just and beneficial end to the Cap Juluca problem. Beneficial especially for the people of Anguilla. The news of Adam Aron reaching some kind of agreement with Dion Friedland that enables him to open negotiations with the Government on an MOA, while it may not be negatively received by most people, will be viewed at least with doubt and suspicion. Most people agree that the Government has final responsibility for ensuring that a just settlement is reached.

The failure of the Gencom Cap Juluca deal should be seized on by the Government to ensure that items that it conceded to Gencom under pressure are carefully re-evaluated, that a Governmet agreement with Adam Aron is made more favourable to the Anguillian Government and people.

The Anguilla Government and the people cannot afford to be investing precious time and effort into negotiating agreements only for them to go nowhere. The Government should take steps to deter highly speculative proposals and to recover its costs of negotiating. In addition, as a tangible expression of his group’s commitment to and ability to fund the restoration and expansion of Cap Juluca, Mr. Aron should be requested to make a non refundable deposit with the Government and a larger sizable refundable investment deposit of several million dollars should be placed in escrow in a local Bank to be used to meet the costs of the project and should the project fails to come to fruition to be returned to Aron.

Investors will be more likely to exercise utmost care and attention to achieving agreements that they can implemented in good times, in not so good times and in bad times, if they have to face reasonable costs of negotiating with the Government. Highly speculative ventures can only succeed in the best of times. Such was Gencom’s proposal. The moment a slight ill wind blows, such ventures run into all kinds of difficulty and become easily derailed.

Anguilla is no longer in the position of having a begging bowl in its hand. Anguilla has options. Anguilla has leverage. Anguilla has the power to determine its economic destiny in the interest of its people. Anguilla has the time to carefully consider the position of Cap Juluca and to take the best decision in the interest of the employees, the people of Anguilla, the owner, creditors and succeeding generations. A complicated challenge, but one that is within the Government’s and the people’s power to deal with fairly, transparently and with justice and fair play for all concerned. And with enhanced economic power for the Anguillian people.

Yes transparency is needed. The people need to know. The people need to have an opportunity to express their views on this latest exercise by Aron and Friedland. Government needs to ensure that the facts are made known to the people. The Government has been silent on this up to now. The Government must not be selectively transparent, but must be consistent in its transparency. Let the people know what Aron wants to do with Cap juluca and how he proposes to do it, so that patriotic and concerned Anguillians and defenders of Cap Juluca and the Cap Juluca legacy can weigh in on the issues. So that Sheridan Smith can see how his wonderful accommodations at Sheriva Villas would be affected by the expansion of Cap Juluca’s accommodations into Cove Bay. And if he is threatened, so that he can raise “cain” to use an old Anguillian expression.

The people need to be told the facts on the Adam Aron Cap Juluca deal. Does he have a deal? Or is he hoping for a deal? Is this Gencom by another name? Is Friedland still up to his old games? Where is Hickox in all this? The people need to know the facts of the alleged Adam Aron Cap Juluca deal.

Sincerely,
Save Cap Juluca Advocate

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