July 02 - GSD Demand Immediate Statement On Sunborn Financial Arrangements
The GSD Opposition has been pressing the Government for well over a month to confirm whether the Government has, directly or indirectly, entered into any financial arrangements in support of the Sunborn Floating Hotel.
The first time the Leader of the Opposition brought the question before Parliament as to whether any loans had been provided, the Chief Minister told him that he would have to check the facts. Two weeks ago Mr Feetham asked the following question in Parliament (505/2013):
"Can the Chief Minister state whether the owners of the Sunborn Floating Hotel have had the benefit, either directly or indirectly, of financial assistance from the Government?"
In his reply, the Chief Minister stated that "No financial assistance has been provided by the Government to the owners of the Sunborn Floating Hotel".
In question 506/2013 Mr Feetham then asked whether the Chief Minister was "now in a position to state whether the owners of the Sunborn Floating Hotel have had the benefit of a soft loan from the Government and, if so, provide the details of the amount, and an outline of the terms of repayment and whether the proceeds of the loan will be drawn on the Consolidated Fund or the Gibraltar Savings Bank".
In his reply, the Chief Minister stated that "there is no soft loan from either the Government or the Gibraltar Savings Bank to the owners of the Sunborn Floating Hotel".
The Chief Minister has repeatedly stated that the Sunborn was an entirely private venture which had nothing to do with the Government and had no Government involvement.
The Opposition has now obtained documents from Companies House that show that a Government and Gibraltar Savings Bank owned company, “Credit Finance Company Limited”, has the benefit of a mortgage secured on the Sunborn Gibraltar vessel. The amount secured by the mortgage is 'an unlimited amount' in favour of Credit Finance Company Limited.
The facts are as follows.
On the 17 February 2012, the Government incorporated a company called Credit Finance Company Ltd with the registered Office at No 6 Convent Place.
The registered shareholders of that company are Gibraltar Investment (Holdings) Ltd and the Gibraltar Savings Bank.
The Gibraltar Savings Bank has invested in 289,425,000 shares of £1 each in Credit Finance Company Ltd. That is very significant investment.
Gibraltar Investment (Holdings) Limited, in turn, is a wholly owned Government company and is used by the Government to fund other Government companies and projects.
The directors of Credit Finance Company Ltd are very senior Civil Servants.
A profile issued by Companies House on 1 July 2013 in relation to Sunborn (Gibraltar) Ltd, reveals that the company was incorporated on 12 March 2013 and that on 16 April 2013 it registered a mortgage for "an unlimited amount” in favour of Credit Finance Company Ltd.
A search of the Register of Mortgage and Charge and of the Memorandum of Satisfaction of Sunborn (Gibraltar) Ltd reveals the mortgage in favour of Credit Finance Company Ltd relates to:
(1) All of Sunborn (Gibraltar) Limited's right, title and interest (now or in the future) in the Floating Hotel vessel, the Sunborn Gibraltar.
(2) All of the company's right, title and interest, present and future, in and to the assigned property meaning:
(A) all of the policies and contracts of insurance of the vessel set out in a deed of covenant, (which the Opposition have not seen); and
(B) all moneys or other compensation payable during the period that any obligations of Sunborn (Gibraltar) Limited under a loan agreement (which the Opposition has also not seen) remain outstanding.
It will be appreciated by the public that a mortgage is granted by a company or an individual over property as security for a loan or some other type of financial assistance provided by a lender. Indeed, the Register of Mortgage and Charge and of the Memorandum of Satisfaction specifically refers to “the loan agreement”.
Daniel Feetham, Leader of the Opposition said: 'The GSD Opposition is giving the Government an opportunity to explain the apparent discrepancy in the answers provided in Parliament by the Chief Minister and the information that emerges from the documentation available. On another level it would be a matter of grave concern if the Government were lending taxpayers’ or Gibraltar Savings Bank savers’ money to Sunborn (Gibraltar) Limited”.
YGTV has contacted the Government for a response following this Opposition press release.
