Ritz duty still not paid
(CNS): Government officials have confirmed that the developer of the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman has still not arranged a plan to pay back the $6 million in duty he owes the public purse. Michael Ryan, who is the owner of a number of companies that have been involved in the development and ownership of the 5-star hotel, as well as the proposed new resort development, Dragon Bay, is currently facing legal action that may see Ryan’s companies lose ownership of the hotel, which could in turn undermine his ability to ever pay the outstanding duty he owes on the property.
In the last communication government officials say they had with any of Ryan’s representatives they were informed that the developer was hoping to meet with the premier to address a way of paying back the duty and buy the crown land at Safe Haven, which is the location of the hotel and the proposed location of the Dragon Bay resort development.
Since then, law suits have been filed in the Grand Court by the current owner of a loan used to develop the Ritz seeking an injunction against the developer and other defendants to prevent them from "interfering with" its efforts to take control of the hotel and facilities.
In a statement to the Miami based OffshoreAlert, Ryan said he did not believe the action would impact the normal operations of the resort but he made no mention of his debt to the Cayman Islands government. CNS has contacted Ryan for comment about the outstanding $6 million and is awaiting a response.
In the Legislative Assembly last year, the premier announced that Ryan had made an offer of $10 milllion for the crown land, which he claimed would make it easier for him to raise the necessary financing to start the resort project. Bush said in September last year that he was considering the offer by Orion Development, one of Ryan’s companies, in which he has also promised a 2% increase on the current stamp duty rate on all land deals there in perpetuity.
Bush had indicated that not everyone in government supported the plan and he had asked the opposition what its position was on the issue.
“The lease agreements on these properties have already been extended to 99 years. The proposal from the developer is that these leases will be converted to freehold for an upfront payment of $10 million dollars, with an increase in stamp duty of 2% on all transactions in perpetuity. This would increase the rate of stamp duty from the current 7.5% up to 9.5% on each transaction. Total revenueis estimated to exceed $600 million dollars over the years,” he told his colleagues as he sought support from the opposition, which was not forthcoming.
It is understood that Ryan was seeking to tie in the purchase of the crown land, the start of construction on the resort and its anticipated boost to the local economy with a plan to pay back the old duty from the development of the Ritz.
Ryan and the various firms involved in the hotel’s development had been given duty waivers to the tune of some $10 million which were not due until the hotel opened and began operations. Under the previous administration the developer was making regular quarterly payments to the treasury and had reduced the amount owing downto $6 milllion. However, following a payment made in March 2009, the next quarterly payment, which was due one month after the UDP was voted into government, was not paid and no further instalments have been made.
In September 2010 the premier revealed in the Legislative Assembly as a result of questions from the opposition that Stingray and Condo Co – two of Ryan’s numerous companies — still owed the duty. Bush said that due to the difficult economic circumstances the developer had asked for the payment plan to be extended. He explained that the company had been required to make quarterly payments of $347,818 and he had paid $3,825,996 but that more than $6 milllion remained outstanding.
The premier also said that the developer had offered to pay interest on the outstanding debt and he was not seeking a write-off of the amount. Bush did not believe the extension posed any risk that government would not receive all the money owed, he said.
See details of legal action here
Category: Local News
Where is the definitive statement from Bush on what he now believes is the likelyhood of Government ever receiving a “cent” of what Ryan’s company owes in relation to the original $6 Million, plus the accrued interest since June 2009.
"And Mac….one more thing."
"Yes sir??"
"Move the dump."
"As you wish sir."
"Mr. Ryan on line 3."
"Yes sir??"
Why don't we check Mr. Ryan's extremely firm and genuine commitment to ensure his companies pay their debts to the Caymanian people by asking for a simple personal guarantee for the whole sum? Surely he will happily say "Yes".
This photo needs Dart and it would be "Total inward investment".
In Cayman no corrupt politician has ever ended up in court charged with ……….. anything, at least as far as I can recall over the course of my many decades. Our anti-corruption legislation is inadequate and its enforcement is pathetic if not totally incestuous. We need outside investigators and prosecutors – from outside the family circle that is.
Good luck with that. Its Cayman your talking about after all. The people have gotten just what they want. Corruption from the top all the way to the bottom. Instead of pretending to want something else why don't Caymanians just say they like it the way it is and leave it at that?
"Take all you can and give nothing back" Explains everything doesn't it?
You sound like a very arrogant person. If everyone was corrupt and liking it that way, then all the people would have whatever they need so what would be the need to “give back” as you say. This is not the case and I think we all know who the one person is who has advanced corruption tothe present level. If you think your few nasty little words “explains everything” about how Caymanians got what they want you are very sorely mistaken.
Nice picture!
It's like looking at Twins with the same Agenda.
Growing large at the people's expense.
Salt and Pepper.
maybe he can pay with 'intellectual property'
Strange friendship! at the expense of the Cayman people.
What has been happening in Cayman is no different from the Turks & Caicos Islands. It is about time the UK investigated the fraud XXXX & introduce direct rule, until a credible and accountable government of the Cayman People, can be introduced. They shouls presecute all crimes and fraud uncovered.
The governor is supposed to be the check and balance in the political system. He's failed.
Why the eff do we keep relying on the Governor to sort everything out? Caymanians are always bashing the UK and saying how repressive and colonial they are and we need to get rid of them so we can run things ourselves. But when our own politicians who cry out for the role of the UK to be reduced (read Roy Bodden's books) act in ways we don't like we say we want the UK Governor to step in and solve everything. It's pathetic and sickening. I agree with what a UK friend said to me a few years back: Who will Caymanians have to blame when the British finally give Cayman independence and they have no one else to blame but themselves?
Excellent point 19:09. We need to stop displaying this double standard towards England and stand up for ourselves.
Because it is his constitutional role to ensure good governance (as he recently acknowledged) and we are paying his salary. What do you think his role is exactly? To live in a mansion on the beach and live a quiet life?
This photo shows such a Lovey Dovey: Govt Official & Investor relationship…
A picture says a thousand words. After the next elections the checks to the Cayman Islands Government will resume if its still open.
I'm no fan of mac nor ryan (yeah no capitals for those names) but putting your arm around the leader of a country, shows the relationship they have, ryan has no respect and mac has no dignity.
That picture is old and does not justify the present situation. If you want to citicize the Premier, then get a recent photo with him and Ryan. The Premier is no longer hugging and dining Ryan. Get real people
He isn't dinning and hugging because he already got what he wanted.
With that photo the headline is redundant – what are friends for.
"Bush said that due to the difficult economic circumstances the developer had asked for the payment plan to be extended. He explained that the company had been required to make quarterly payments of $347,818 and he had paid $3,825,996 but that more than $6 milllion remained outstanding."
I wonder if the difficult economic circumstances reduced Mike Ryan's extortionate salary and therefor his ability to fuel his plane and yacht… I doubt it.
I wonder if i can use that same line on CUC and LIME next month to see if they would allow me to defer payment(s) yet still continue to "operate"?
Or better yet, tell that to the Vehicle Licensing Dept when i go to renew my registration, yet still receive the coupon and continue driving my vehicle on the road.
The best we can hope for is that Dart's hotel won't be the eyesore on Seven Mile beach that the Ritz is, and at least the UDP's name won't be further tarnished by Dart owing duties on HIS hotel. They WAIVED his duties to make sure THAT wouldn't happen. That really is a better approach, don't you think? Nothing for the silly Cayman public to point fingers at? Still we say that the UDP Gowerment is not getting better? Still we complain that we don't have an intelligent gowerment looking after our best interests?
At 11:11 Caymanians dont show up because we know we are just wasting our time. even if we are qualified we end getting a bar back or busser job while a non-speaking person gets a server or bartender job. We then get screwed once again with illegal gratuity payouts on checks as reports are not done and the labour board does get notified until the Caymanians report it.. If they hire no Caymanians then you think the slaves on work permits going to report it?
We are lucky to even get an e-mail response if we even mention we are Caymanain wanting to work in the hospitality Industry. If we do even get an interview they raise the bar so high that they write down very excuse and then declare on Immigration form no Caymanians qualified or applied. No use reporting it to Immigration as it will get turned down once or twice so they can make an extra CI$75.00 or double re-application fee and also more on that applicant deferred for an extension fee. What a conspiracy!
What load of crap more like! Quite your moaning and go to job interviews with a smile and prove you are interested. Employers would far rather hire Caymanians and save on work permit fees.
You have truly lost the plot man. I don't know where to start, so I won't.
As the saying goes LEAD BY EXAMPLE . Not this Government! The Governor needs to leave also for negligence.
Nation Building Fund $10,000,000.00
GLF $6,000,000.00
Ritz $6,000,000,.00
China Trip and others say $1,000,000.00
Bell Tower $1,000,000.00
Cohen Deal $500,000.00
In my opinion around $22,500,000.00 Way to go.
it appears you spent as much time in level 1 math class as Maceewa. none the less i agree with your point!
finish GOAB $43,000,000
finish Elgin Avenue $2,500,000
Buy land under Ardens roads $4,000,000 and counting
Finished Schools $35,000,000
I know your comments- "we got something" but in reality those projects bankrupted the country- not sure which is worst–loosing 10-12M or spending $350M we did not have.
I agree the Bell Tower is nonsense as is the "hand out" (Nation Building) to the churches. Cohen might have worked however so I give them a pass on that.
In reality, we need to get rid of ALL 15 persons in there and start fresh–they are all taking us for fools.
Those were capital investment projects. They benefit us. They were needed because the previous UDP govt. preferred to build Boatswain Beach to the tune of $65m which costs us more than $10m per year than to build the roads, schools govt. admin building that were actually needed. The capital projects did not bankrupt us. We would not have an Aa3 rating sovereign debt rating if we were bankrupt.
How anyone in their right minds could believe that the Cohen fiasco was acceptable is beyond me. The Premier, who admits he has no financial expertise, was advised by the FS and the other members of the CTC that what was apparently promised was unrealistic. He ignored that advice. He disregarded thefact that other bidders had won the bidding process and ended up having to return to them in embarrassment at less favourable rates. He acted in breach of the Regulations. This fiasco cost the country $450,000 and we gained nothing but embarrassment but somewhere someone is smiling probably with a 'finder's fee' in hand. If he had been a CEO in the private sector he would have either been dismissed or required to reimburse the company.
"not sure which is worst–loosing 10-12M or spending $350M we did not have".
Let me help you. Is it better to spend $500,000 to buy a lavish house which is probably more than you need or to flush $25,000 down the toilet?
Let me "tackle" your post as follows:
finish GOAB for 43,000,000 – It would pay for itself in 10 years by the money saved in private leases – that's a good medium-term investment, ask any real estate guru
finish Elgin Avenue for 2,500,000 – necessary for the GOAB to function properly and part of the original plan so this is not an "extra", plus it helps to attract other business and services (e.g. Cricket Square expansions, Walkers) near the GOAB – imagine the traffic woes if the works were not completed.
Buy land under Arden's roads 4,000,000 and counting – have you driven on these new roads? If so, don't complain, its called necessary infrastructure and planning for the future. Also, have you began counting the cost of paving the private driveways in the Brac?
finish schools for 35,000,000 – why dont they finish them instead of starting new works on other schools? a light bulb will soon go off in your head after you've thought about it for a few seconds.
If someone like Ryan managed so successfully to pull the wool over Bush’s eyes, imagine what the Chinese will be able to do – these boys are REAL professionals when it comes to the small print game.
don't worry we have elio…..uh oh!
Not "Elio"…it's "Helium" (hot air)!!!
So company W rents an apartment from politician X's company which owns a property in the residences at the Y owned by Z's company.
Solve for W, X, Y and Z.
Have you checked to see if Ritz Carlton is paying tourism tax?
… another great boost to the economy gone bad… how do we think the next deal will go with China Harbour???
There is no such thing as a "lien" in our Land Registry Laws. However, for better protection, get the AG to file a law suit, obtain a Cause Number from the Court, take this to the Registrar of Lands and request that an Inhibition be entered on all the Land Registers of the properties concerned. This bars any further dealings on those properties and should bring Ryan to the table with all the outstanding debt to be paid in full, accepting cash only.
Great idea.
Thats because a certain someone recieved a residence at the Ritz an thats a FACT…but has now been sold to another individual… wanna guess who bought it?
Don't forget the generous gift of a 65 foot boat given to said individual which was later sold for a hefty chuck of cash.
Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
And it is of course a complete coincidence that the Anti-Corruption authorities are refused resources to do anything while millions are wasted on luxury travel which has no purpose other than luxury travel.
thank you governor taylor………………
ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz.
marl road rumors cant stand up in court
And the beat goes on.How sweet it is to sit back and watch all this unfold.Absolutely no remorse being shown by our Govt.I guess it will be like everything else around here.Written off as a bad debt.One Man One Vote cannot come fast enough so we can make our representatives responsible for their actions.
Is he asleep?
Friends take care of friends. That's how it works.
And especially if they na poor or Caymanian..
I am not sure that it is the Premier responsible for collecting this debt.
I would think that is in the hands of our legal department?
Knot S Smart, may we ask exactly who do you think allowed this debt to exist?
If the legal dept. had been instructed by the Premier to pursue it it would have been pursued. Do you really think it is coincidence that Ryan stopped paying his quarterly instalments in June, 2009, the elections having occurred on 20 May 2009? Don't be naive.
Let me tell you how it works according to my experience in another department. XYZ Department sends out letter to John Doe that owes government money. John Doe calls politician. Politician says "don't worry about that." Politician calls XYZ department chews them out and that's that.
Do not allow Mike Ryan to jump on his plane or yatch and leave Cayman.
Unless he take McKeewa with him.
We should offer him another 6 million to help us with that.
Sometimes reading CNS is better than an Archie comic!
CNS, when you refer to the Premier it's a with a capital 'P' not lower case.
Be careful, he'll be suing you for showing disrespect next.
PS. If the R-C developer goes bust what happens to that 'grace and favour' condo we have all been hearing about.
CNS: It's nothing to do with respect or disrespect. When used as a common noun 'premier' does not have a capital 'P' (nor does 'prime minister' or 'president') and we're not going to give it one just so there are no hurt feelings. However, we do use a capital 'P' when it is used as a title, as in 'Premier McKeeva Bush'.
From now on, please refer to me as "Premier Slowpoke".
I said to me CO to not answer any moore too any blogs that are not addressed to me by the which I should be called as I am entitled.
He could start by selling that big plane he has there.
That will be worth more than the six million right there .
No reason a man in debt so badly needs a big ole plane and huge
Maintenance bills , salaries and insurance for such a craft!
Take away all his assets that amount to the outstanding DUTY of $6million.
Then take away his CAYMANIAN STATUS, he does not deserve to keep it, when it is deemed you are breaking laws and not carrying your weight with your status, then you should no longer be allowed to keep it.
Call the Governor and get this Caymanian Status revoked for being a poor representation of a good citizen to this country.
If they don't take his status away, then let out all the prisoners!!!
Would love if that could be done. However, Ryan and all the other cabinet grant status' are IRREVOCABLE even if they commit a felony.
Simply not true. If they are convicted of an offence that was made possible or facilitated by a grant then it is absolutely revokable.
If a bribe was paid to obtain a grant then it is void and doesn’t even need to be revoked.
If you or I owed $6,000,000.00 our debtor would clamp down on us until we paid the money! Right?
Not if we had corrupt politicians in our pocket I suspect.
His house must be worth a few million, take that off him.
Happy to help.
It is interesting to note all remarks on this blog. They really regurgitate many expressed in previous blogs. There is considerable negligence on behalf of those Government members and employees in not collecting the amount due from one of many myriad of the Ryan companies. Why there are so many companies is a question that needs be asked.
In the normal business world if a debt is overdue for payment then a demand is made. If not paid within twenty one days, one commences winding up under the law. Why I ask did Mr Bush not do this? It is a bit late to threaten the payer now as someone else has commenced an action. If the payee cannot pay a few hundred million he is unlikely to pay the Government six million.
The incompetence of this Government is quite incredible. Regrettably under the law they cannot be held accountable.
The entire situation is not dissimilar with the Doucet situation in the seventies that many identified before it went belly up. Can we never learn from previous mistakes.
Forget taking his house as it is no doubt held by another company where ownership is hidden. Thanks to our confidentiality laws we are in effect hung by our own petard.
In my humble opinion the matter will escalate because so much debt is owed elsewhere.
Watch this space.
The Premier has been reported as admitting that he does not know much about finance. I wonder if that is why the developer would prefer to talk to him?
It must be all that "good governance" that is getting in the way of the duty being repaid.
Yeah, he can blame the PPM for all of that good governance they installed like FOI, however, under PPM Ryan was paying the bill.
Are we going to allow Ryan to build the new hotel Dragon???Of course we are……we allowed the Ritz to be built, we broke every rule we had to allow this hotel to be built, remember the saying "no hotel was to be built higher then the highest coconut tree? But no…..this hotel is a monstrosity that didn't bring anything to the Island, not even jobs for Caymanians, but I am sure someone got paid under the table to allow this…….
A few years ago the Ritz held a job fair for Caymanians only- want to know how many Caymanians showed up? 3!!!!! So, it's not from lack of trying.
What an effort! I imagine every Caymanian resume has since been thrown away in order to hold on to this pathetic excuse.
Yes, I went to that job fair with the qualifications of a F & B Director. I have to give the Ritz credit, they did get back to me with a job offer….for bus boy at $4.00/hour.
beter than $0 an hour…. take it or leave it……the ritz's standards speak for itself
I live in Bodden Town….if I took up an offer to work at the Ritz for $4 an hour, I’d end up PAYING to work. Makes more sense to turn it down – especially when you consider that gas costs more than that…not to mention EATING…FORGET paying any bills.
Reason doesn't matter, only result.
It was a few months ago.
That's a lie, I was there and I witnessed about appx 50 NATIVE CAYMANIANS. So I don't have a clue what you are talking about. As for paper Caymanians, there were about three (3) or so of them. Get your facts straight before you talk with a smelly mouth!
Whatever the number was it was probably directly proportional to those native Caymanians with enough brains to know exactly what their chances were of actually getting a decent job at decent pay.
I was there also and around 50 NATIVE CAYMANIANS, is over 10 times too high a figure, perhaps you get your paper and native caymanians mixed up, a good way to spot the difference is the PAPER ones will work friday and Saturday nights.
There was not even close to 50 people there, probably fewer than 20 showed up due to the utter lack of advertising for the event.
Interesting you can smell someones breath on a post, you must have a serious sensitive nose, but oddly you can't smell the BS coming out of yours
This AFTER already having established their anti-Caymanian reputation in HR practice.
Perhaps they had been put off by the experience of the 150 plus indigenous Caymanians that had been employed at the Holiday Inn or the ridiculous (and now abandoned) hoops early applicants had to jump through to seek employment.
zzzzzz….better to be unemployed then….zzzzzzzzz
Were you there to count how many came? And what happened to the tallest coconut tree, did it shrink????
truth hurts?
You expect them to hire you with grammar like that?
At $4.00 an hour his grammar should be a lot worse.
The loan repayments were stopped in May 2009 when Mac took over again. He obviously has no interest (pun intended) in having Mike Ryan pay up.
Mr. Ryan knows he doesnt have to pay when Big M is in power. The Government better get in line with other creditors!
What a coincidence!
I wonder if there are any fax or email communications floating around from around that date between Ryan and Mac the premier? You know, information of general public interest like with Mr. Thomas.
Its almost inconceivable that anyone still belives that Ryan was told that he would eventually have to pay up. Why is that?
A shorter headline would have been, "Premier still in power".
This is a big black eye for Government. The shell game is now commencing. Instead of just simply paying the funds we are being given a complicated bait and switch which will make it difficult to determine if we are properly paid.
One question, is the obligation to pay the duty Mr. Ryan's personally or that of his various companies? If it is the companies then the obligation to pay the duty will transfer to whoever bails him out. Government is in a position of power here in terms of its ability to approve future deals, constrcution etc. and the Ritz hotel still has long term value and cash flow potential. If govt is the least bit competent we should get paid.
Perhaps this is just a rumor but I heard that a top floor condo was 'gifted' to a high ranking member of our government back in the beginning. I am sure it was all above board and was not a kickback for allowing a sweetheart deal to take place. Perhaps this official could sell his condo and use the proceeds to repay the Caymanian people.
Couldn't the government recoup their funds by reducing the number of years on the land lease owned by Ryan?
We need the $6,000,000 in CASH to pay our bills, not a few years off a peppercorn lease which none of us will be around to benefit from. It won't help the deficit but it would help cash flow immensely. You have to wonder why Govt. is not pushing Ryan to pay this now, including interest on the payments which have not been made since May 2009, a VERY significant date in this case.
Not to mention we need the money to pay for losses and penalties/judgements for every decision the Premier is making.
That is the ticket ………… reduce the potential amount that Government would collect from this develoupment in the future by $6 million and call it repayment of the outstanding duties weaver.
You must be the economist that is advising McKeeva or are you the economist that is advising Ryan.
Talk about smone and mirrors.
Government needs to seize his plane, his yacht and his home now. Failure to do so will be pure incompetence on their part.
Seize the Premier too!:)
Nah – he's worthless
Yes but his personal condo at the Ritz is not (if he has one that is but then again maybe it belongs to his wife or an obscure company or he does’t really have one…) Baines? Governor? Attorney General? FCO? WTF?
If you could buy him for what he's worth, and sell him for what HE THINKS he's worth, that would be a nice chunk of change – should be able towipe the deficit out in one blow, and still have money to bet with Syed in Vegas.
Useless more than worthless:)
11:13, worthless my ass!! I wish you were the man he was. He is our Premier and we want him to stay in power to tske care of Cayman.
I wish the country's debts could somehow be reduced by the wealth he somehow acquired during his years in politics.
It is a serious curse to wish that on anyone.
Tsk tsk. Actually we wouldn't pay much for your ass either.
Seize him after his next four year term as premier is up!
Actually it's just about up already, and it's only because of clowns like you why it ever happened..
If it hasn't been paid by now, its not going to be voluntarily paid.
I'm all for government providing concessions to attract business. However, in fairness to those of us who get no concessions and have to pay all fees up front, the least the government should do is collect, in advance, the few fees that are due from the foreign companies that receive concessions.
I think that, as a society, we are becoming far too dependent on our politicians. Typically politicians are people who have failed in every other endevor. For some reason when these losers call themselves politicians we automatically think they have some value. We start to believe them. Worse, we start to think they can solve our country's, problems. They can't and wont. They are losers. All they will do is make us worse off each year.
The business community needs to step up and have a say. I don't mean the new business community who jump on the Chinese bandwagon as they personally benefit. I mean the generational business families who builtthis country and have a duty to their country and children to have it propser in the future as it propsered in the past.
"Bush added that he did not believe the extension posed any risk that government would not receive all the money owed."
What was this belief based on? Did he just wake up and think it, or is it based on receiving and assessing the hard facts about Ryan's companies' financial positions? If the latter, obviously someone else (the lender) is not convinced of Ryan's leadership and/or financial position.
2 condos????
If Mac had not allowed him to stop paying in May 2009, we would not be owed so much. You have to ask why he hasn't forced him to continue payments as the last Govt did. SMH…
If the payment plan becomes default I think the Premiere should pay what is owed since he has been the one allowing such leniency to be made thus far.
More incompetence. Is there no one in our government to file a lean on the property to ensure that CI gets its money? Where is the Governor when you need him?
If you look at the register you will see that there is no collateral at all for the duty deferral – did you really think that given the manner in which it was given that there would be?
But it's Crown Property! How would that help?
any comment mr governor?
Why should the Governor comment, dont you think he has better to do than listen to the crap you people talk. You really think that Englishman is a fool, he knows that there is a pack of Power hungry people out there with pepper sause in hand waiting to pickle the premier. Go and get a life.
what has he better to do?….what has he done this week?
“sause”?
Typical illiterate McKeeva supporter.