Antigua-Barbuda government to defend action in Half Moon Bay matter

Attorney General Justin Simon QC

Thursday,  December 29, 2005

ST JOHN'S, Antigua: Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Justin Simon QC has said that the government of Antigua and Barbuda intends to defend its decision in vesting title of Half Moon Bay Hotel property in the Crown on April 1, 2005.

The country’s top legal official made the comment following the filing of an application by HMB Holdings Limited through its Director Mrs. Natalia Querard on December 13, requesting that the Registrar of the High Court obtain an Opinion from the High Court as to whether the Registrar was correct in registering the Crown as the proprietor of the Half Moon Bay Hotel properties on the application of the Attorney General.

Upon entering into the office, the United Progressive Party administration signaled its intention of returning the property to Mrs. Querard under the conditions that the property be developed and the withdrawal of an application filed in the Privy Council to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeal.

On July 18, 2005, through a parliamentary resolution, government had agreed to re-vest the compulsorily acquired lands in HMB Holding Ltd under prescribed conditions. The government, which gave HMB Holdings three months to respond, has not received a response to date.

On January 28, 2003, the Court of Appeal reversed a decision by the High Court which had ruled that the acquisition of the property by the previous government in 2002 was illegal.

The Attorney General said that the decision of the Court of Appeal gave the government the right to register the property in the Crown particularly as it had complied with the legal requirement of two publications in the Gazette, a position specifically noted by the Court of Appeal.

“The Government has every intention of defending its position and the action it has to date taken in vesting title of the hotel property in the Crown. We are also acutely conscious of the fact that the beneficial owner of 44 percent of the company's equity has for some time been effectively deprived of all management rights and that the business of the company appears to be conducted in a manner which effectively denies all proper participation by that substantial owner,” the Attorney General said.

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