Stonington Beach PAY-TO-PLAY reward carpetbagger John Jefferis

by Sal | December 7, 2009 at 07:18 am

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3 years later the stench of plp corruption rises again :John Jefferis got a hotel & public land for cents on the dollar. Given to him by politicians,paid for by taxpayers

PAY-TO-PLAY reward to a foreign carpetbagger,John Jefferis,in return for his financial backing of the PLP that helped them win in 1998.

"John Jefferis,paid Trinidadian political consultant Roy Boyke, for the PLP to win the 1998 election....

Jefferis whose 2003 lease to run Government-owned Stonington Beach Hotel was slammed by Auditor General Larry Dennis as so unfair it should have been put out to tender again had secretly paid for Mr. Boyke to come to Bermuda to work for the PLP.

Jefferis, who was then running the Coco Reef Hotel in Tobago, met former Tourism Minister David Allen shortly before the 1998 election and agreed to pick up the tab for Mr. Boyke to work for the party.

Jefferis was awarded the contract to operate the Bermuda College-owned Stonington Hotel in December 2002, but in June 2003, six months after he was selected, he signed a lease completely different from the basis on which he had been chosen which saved him millions of dollars in rent.

Mr. Jefferis also managed to get the lease extended from the agreed 21 years to 50, obtained a five year rent holiday not in the original proposal, secured a total of 5.9 acres of land not originally on offer including two oceanfront cottages and was given the right in his lease to build and sell condominiums which, again, had not been agreed on when he was selected.

The lease should have gone to Bermuda College Board of Governors to be ratified, said the Auditor General.

But instead, PLP politicians Raymond Tannock and Larry Mussenden the chairman and vice-chairman of the Board signed it in June 2003 without the other Board members approving it."

Sen. Dunkley said he stood by his comments.

He said he had no intention of getting into a "personal war of words with a very emotional Mr. Jefferis", but as Coco Reef Resort sits on public property, it demands a higher degree of Parliamentary oversight and accountability.

"The Auditor General's 2004 investigation and report on the Stonington lease speaks for itself and clearly points out the sweetheart deal that Mr. Jefferis received at taxpayer expense including no base rent for the first five years and an additional 3.9 acres of prime property.

"In fact, the Auditor General noted that '…the lease that was eventually executed was so materially different from the heads of terms that were the basis for proposals requested from short-listed bidders, the tendering process was effectively compromised'."

Sen. Dunkley continued: "Mr. Jefferis notes that he has invested $10m in upgrading their tourism product when in fact the Auditor General notes that his lease called for $12.9m to be spent in upgrading the hotel."

The attack by John Jefferis,another petty gangster, that Ewrat Brown surrounds himself with,has to be seen in context. Jefferis came here as a Elbow Beach desk clerk,he made his fortune in PAY-TO-PLAY back room deals, selling the hotel to an Arab Prince,while backstabbing his mentors, who set him up as manager,the UK family who owned the Elbow Beach .

Jefferis is just another foreigner who has made multi millions by selling off Bermuda taxpayer owned prime beachfront and woodland,nor has he trained or employed any Bermudian staff,plus had numerous employee protests and walkouts . Jefferis has hotel property here,in Tobago,and one is being built in Panama.

The Stonington Beach contract that was given to John Jefferis, bore no resemblance to what had been put out to tender. He was given generous tax concessions,Bermuda taxpayer owned woodland and beach land,all of this PAY-TO-PLAY reward to a foreign carpetbagger,in return for his financial backing of the PLP that helped them win in 1998.

Controversy has dogged the resort since former Elbow Beach managing director John Jefferis was given a 50-year lease by Government in 2003 to operate and manage the Paget property.

In January this year he was granted an SDO by Environment Minister El James to build 66 holiday apartments on woodland. A 2004 special report by Auditor General Larry Dennis called for the lease to be re-tendered because it was "considerably more beneficial" to him (Jefferis) than the tender document specified.

This is Crown land

December 3, 2009

Dear Sir,

I was interested in the article in the December 2 copy of The Royal Gazette regarding the developments planned for Coco Reef.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I understood that this property, formerly the Hotel School of the Bermuda College, was Crown land, and any development on this land belongs to the people. How will the country benefit from the villas planned to be built and sold on this property?

Is it legally correct to sell or lease Crown land to developers for their own profit?

I hope someone will explain this for future reference.

E.RABEN

Paget