TURKS AND CAICOS--On Monday, Andrew Mitchell QC commenced the second week of his opening statement on behalf of the prosecution in the criminal trial of former Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) premier Michael Misick and others, by outlining in detail a land transaction that allegedly defrauded the TCI government of millions of dollars.
At the end of last week, Mitchell had turned to a case of alleged “land flipping” at North West Point, an area of Providenciales located approximately ten miles from Grace Bay.
David Wex, a developer from Canada, became interested in the prospect of developing the land at North West Point and sometime in 2006 he ended up, through a corporate entity, as the beneficial owner of the land, paying close to the open market value.
However, according to Mitchell, Wex paid the full value of the property to a group of Belongers who had obtained the land with the connivance of the defendant politicians (who received financial reward for their role).
The Crown’s case is that the direct Belonger beneficiaries of this alleged fraud were: (a) Quinton Hall (brother of Floyd Hall); (b) Jeffrey Hall; (c) Earlson Robinson (brother of Lillian Boyce); and (d) Samuel Been (the ex-husband of Lillian Boyce).
Lillian Boyce also benefitted, Mitchell said. He outlined a series of alleged manipulations of different parcels of land at North West Point into one high value parcel to ensure that Wex obtained the title to the land, as a result of which the TCI government was allegedly defrauded of millions of dollars that were said to have been diverted to Cabinet ministers and others.
According to Mitchell, four Belonger beneficiaries – Jeffrey Hall ($2,144,000); Samuel Been ($2,144,000); Quinton Hall ($1,355,000); and Earlson Robinson ($1,357,000) – offered to sell to Wex for around $7 million freehold title of land over which they did not have title – the freehold still belonged to the Crown.
Part of the Crown's case on this point is that the normal Belonger discount of up to 50 percent of the open market value of the land should not have been applied because there was a known non-Belonger purchaser behind it.
“We submit that, unknown to the TCI [government], the ministers had knowledge that this was going straight on to a developer. They could have, and should have made sure that the land was sold straight to Wex and that the government got the $7 million that the land was valued at. There shouldn't have been an intervention of a Belonger discount. If a Belonger, acting honestly – and this is all about issues of honesty and integrity – buys land and sells it at a profit, then the Belonger discount will be clawed back by government,” Mitchell said.
“…everyone involved knew that Wex would be taking title to the land on the day of completion, they recognised that there was the opportunity of a $3 million profit,” he pointed out. Mitchell submitted that the alleged manipulation of the titles and the way that the transaction was structured was done to deceive the land registry, the governor, and therefore the Crown.
On April 18, 2006, Wex’s development company made a payment of $6.8 million to his attorneys, representing the balance of the $7 million purchase price for the land, some $200,000 having been paid the previous year, of which $120,000 had been paid directly to Jeffrey Hall by cheques signed by co-defendant Melbourne Wilson, the local attorney representing Hall.
On May 5, 2006, the freehold of the North West Point land was transferred by the TCI government for $1,367,000, representing a purchase price of $2,735,000 to which the Belonger discount of 50 percent had been applied. $133,393.50 was paid by way of stamp duty.
