| Government seeks PNP headquarters property | | Print | |
| Written by Richard Green/richard@fptci.com | |||
| Friday, 23 March 2012 10:33 | |||
 The interim government has asked the courts to take back Crown land on which the Progressive National Party built its headquarters and to order the building torn down. The PNP says the court action is unnecessary and simply an attempt to embarrass the party that was in power when the U.K. took direct control of the Turks and Caicos Islands after allegations of widespread corruption in government. A writ filed with the Supreme Court in January and served on the party March 13 says the PNP was granted a commercial conditional purchase lease in January 2005 but did not execute the lease or pay the required rent. The party built its headquarters on the property on Airport Road and leased office space to the government for constituency offices of party members of Parliament. When the interim government began reviewing Crown land allocations in 2011, it discovered that the PNP had never been granted title to the property. “It had been our hope that matters could be settled amicably without the need for proceedings,” Attorney General Huw Shepheard said in a statement March 20. “Unfortunately, discussions with the PNP have not been successful. In those circumstances, the government has been left with no choice but to bring these proceedings for trespass and damages to recover this plot of Crown land and what is properly owed to the government.” Carlos Simons, a Queen’s Counsel who is seeking leadership of the party and represents the party in the case, said the PNP has never disputed government’s right to reasonable rent or paying market value for the property. But negotiations haven’t resulted in a settlement out of court “because they were not undertaken in good faith by (Shepheard) and his clients, the governor and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,” Simons said. “They are hell-bent on issuing this final embarrassment to the PNP as an institution. The party is hell-bent on ensuring its survival as a pillar of the parliamentary democracy that our constitutions since 1976 have provided for, and to ensure that the party is a force for good in the affairs of our country.” As for the demand to tear down the building, Simons said, “I would also be surprised if anyone, regardless of their political allegiance, would agree (even if government were to win its case) that pulling down and destroying a perfectly good building makes any kind of sense.” Not only does government want the land back and the building torn down, it is asking a judge to order the PNP to pay back nearly $465,083 that government paid to lease office space in the building. Simons questioned the grounds for that claim. “Those leases were identical to leases entered into by (government) in Grand Turk, South Caicos and North and Middle Caicos for the constituency offices of members of Parliament, including constituency offices for PDM members of Parliament,” he said. Simons asked the governor and the FCO to withdraw the action and return to the negotiating table in good faith to avoid having to pay the Civil Recovery Team of private U.K. lawyers to take the case forward for the attorney general. “In any case, the PNP is committed to rigorously defending and defeating these spurious claims brought by the interim government, purportedly on behalf of the people,” he said. Click here to read the writ and complaint Click here to read Carlos Simons response to complaint Photo: PNP headquarters property on Airport Road.
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