Sanata Textiles deal…Owners got more than tender offered -- Jagdeo

Sanata Textiles deal…Owners got more than tender offered -- Jagdeo
Kaieteur News news item, Wednesday 14 May 2008

President Bharrat Jagdeo has admitted that the company which has acquired the Sanata Textiles Complex may have got more than it tendered for. In an invited comment to respond to the decision to make the complex available to Queens Atlantic Investments Inc, President Jagdeo said that he had no part in the final decision.
He said that when the issue came up at the Cabinet level, given his relationship with the owner of the company, he left the meeting.
The complex had been put to tender in 2006, with a closing date of January 19, 2007. Mr Winston Brassington, head of the Privatisation Unit, said that there were no bids so the tender had to be recalled.
The Unit then accepted an offer from an interested party. The deal was that a lease of 99 years be granted and that the company pays $50 million per annum, in an arrangement that indexes the current payment in local currency to movements in the United States currency and to inflation as recorded in the United States.
President Jagdeo said that the buildings in the compound had deteriorated significantly. The investor has also promised a US$30 million investment and to create more than 1,000 jobs. In addition to the production of antibiotics, the company will also establish a printery, as well as other facilities. The new entity will be operating in addition to the Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation at Farm, East Bank Demerara.
And commenting on the sale of Buddy’s International Hotel, the Head of State said that he has learnt that the buyer has paid US$15 million for the hotel, with plans to invest a further US$10 million to improve the standard of the hotel.
Sudi Özkan, the owner of Princess Hotels and Casinos, is the man behind the purchase of Buddy’s International. Asked to comment on the meeting with the new owner, President Jagdeo said that he met Özkan during the hosting of the Rice Producers’ Association's conference, which was held at the hotel. “The meeting was brief and the discussion was not detailed.”
Özkan is known as the "Casino King" in Turkey. Starting with one centre, he now has 20. While being the manager of the Istanbul Movenpick Hotel casino, he bought the hotel and changed its name to the Princess. Now no one knows the amount of money he has gained from these ventures.
It is also known that Özkan, who is trying to stay away from the press, also owns many casinos abroad.
Finance Ministry experts have found out that Özkan has transferred a total of $680 million from Turkey to Switzerland via his daughter's numbered bank account, which was opened in 1995. The 2,000-page report, the result of a lengthy and meticulous probe, indicates that the unregistered proceeds from Özkan's 18 casinos were transferred to Switzerland by Özkan's daughter, Venus, and her Italian husband, Palmerino Colamarino.
Some of Özkan's assets have been seized by the Bailiff's Office. His 'free' assets include a total of $1 billion in cash, a small island in the Atlantic Ocean named Saint Maarten Island, eight casinos in four countries, namely Belize, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia, and seven companies in which he is a 'covert' partner. Özkan is currently living on Saint Maarten, where casino legislation was recently introduced.
The legislation was enacted to make the tourism industry more competitive. "We have never had a casino in the entire country. Apparently, the tourism people felt they were thereby disadvantaged relative to the rest of the region," an official said.
The Princess Hotel, formerly a Ramada in St Maarten, was purchased by the Turkish businessman specifically so a casino could be established.
Özkan 's company, Ozkanlar Sirketler Grubu, already has five-star hotels in Belarus, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey and St. Maarten; it also owns a pasta factory, and has interests in schools, mosques and other institutions throughout Turkey.