Golding blasts Shaw for 'sweetheart deal' claim

TREASURER OF the People's National Party (PNP), Mark Golding, has blasted Finance Minister Audley Shaw for sweetheart deal allegations made against him in Parliament on Wednesday.

Golding, who was a director of Dehring, Bunting & Golding (DBG), the company fingered by Shaw in the so-called deal, charged that the finance minister used the "cloak of immunity provided by Parliament to seek to malign the integrity of his political opponents".

Golding, in a press release, sought to set the record straight in relation to the involvement of DBG in an equity investment during the 1990s.

He said a beachfront property in Runaway Bay was purchased, and a project was conceptualised to develop it as an all-inclusive hotel.

"SuperClubs agreed to operate the hotel as 'Hedonism III' under a management contract, which was later converted into a long-term lease. Equity was put into the Runaway Development Company Limited (RBDL) by DBG and a group of private investors."

Golding pointed out that loan financing was arranged from Caribbean Development Bank, DBG and a consortium of local financial institutions.

He said the then National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ), now Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), was approached to provide the remainder of the required financing, as it had invested in other locally promoted hotel projects.

not concessionary

The former DBJ director argued that the interest rates and other terms of the financing for the project, including that provided by NIBJ, were in line with the market conditions at that time and could not be described as concessionary.

According to Golding, the hotel was hit by ongoing financial challenges after it opened.

"RBDL struggled to service the project debt, and NIBJ eventually decided to protect its investment in the project by taking over a portion of the loans made by two of the more aggressive local banks.

"However, Mr Shaw's statement that NIBJ injected a further US$11 million between 2000 and 2004 is simply untrue," Golding contended.

The former DBJ director explained that the hotel turned out to be a poor investment for DBG and the other equity holders, including NIBJ.

"DBG eventually wrote off its entire equity in the project. To describe DBG as having received any kind of 'sweetheart' treatment is ridiculous," he insisted.