STATEMENT BY HON. ALDEN McLAUGHLIN, M.B.E., J.P., M.L.A. LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

26^th November 2012

Outstanding duty owed to the Cayman Islands Government by Michael Ryan and/or one or other of his companies with respect to the Ritz-Carlton Property

Following the revelations earlier this month that the Ritz-Carlton property had been sold at auction and that the $6M in outstanding deferred duty owed to the Cayman Islands Government by Michael Ryan and/or one or other of his companies had not been paid, I raised this issue in the Legislative Assembly. In response the Premier claimed that the long outstanding duty would be paid by the new owners of the Ritz-Carlton, RC Holdings. The new owners, however, have made it clear that they are not responsible for the payment of the duty owed by the predecessor owner of the Ritz-Carlton property, Michael Ryan and or one or other of his companies. They have said that they attempted on more than one occasion to negotiate with the Premier regarding this outstanding sum but were not able to get to see him or even to obtain responses to their correspondence to his office regarding this matter and that the opportunity for negotiation was lost upon the purchase of the property.

On 22^nd November in a national address broadcast on radio and television the Premier said, among other things, the following:

“I want to address you on the situation of the Ritz Carlton and the outstanding stamp duty owed to the Cayman Islands Government.

The Leader of the Opposition raised the matter of the waiver of stamp duty and the purported loss of the six million dollars, laying the blame at my feet. But it is well known to anyone who has bothered to follow the true facts behind all the slurs and accusations, that there is no level of hypocrisy and lies that the leader of the Opposition will not stoop to, in an attempt to blacken my name and the name of the Cayman Islands. Do they really expect people to take them seriously when, for years, they have accused me over and over again of getting involved with investors and making deals and to now stand in the House and accuse me of acting improperly, claiming I did not get involved and make a deal that would benefit a client of a law firm that, the Leader of the Opposition , has or has had, a close relationship with, and is his old colleague, being in the same firm.”

Was it just coincidence for the Leader of the Opposition to say what he said on the TV show with me? Then something was published in the newspapers from the lawyers within days. The Leader of the Opposition, after the TV show, then comes to the House to make charges against me, to accuse me of not doing my work and loosing the six million dollars. You be the judge and don’t be fooled.”

Because I raised the issue of his mishandling of this issue which has caused the country to lose $6M, the Premier has attacked me and inferred that somehow I am defending RC Holdings and alleged that I have some association with Rick Finlay or Conyers Dill Pearman, who act for RC Holdings. Nothing could be further from the truth. I ceased active practice in the firm of Charles Adams, Ritchie and Duckworth where I was a partner with Rick Finlay following my election for the first time in 2000, some12 years ago. I retired from the firm completely in 2004 and have had no association with the firm or Rick Finlay since.

But indeed the Premier is right about one thing, none of us ought to be fooled. The Premier must explain how it is that the statement which he made on 22 November and from which I just quoted was authored by Michael Ryan and prepared at the offices of Stingray Construction, one of Mr. Ryan’s companies.

I do not ask that everyone simply believe without more the shocking revelation that I have just made. I invite you all to follow these instructions to see for yourself:

Go to the Cayman News Service Website; scroll down until you reach the story entitled “Mac Disputes Ritz Value “; click “Read more”; Go to the end of the story and click the attached statement entitled “ Ritz-Carlton Statement TV mv 21Nov 2012 doc” attached statement”; Save the statement; Once you’ve saved the statement, without opening it highlight the name you’ve given it and right click; When the drop down box opens, scroll down to the bottom and click “Properties”; When it opens click “Details”, scroll down and you will see the “Author” of the statement as “Michael Ryan” and the “Company” as “Stingray Construction”.

Given what I have just said I must insist on behalf of the people of the Cayman Islands that the Premier tells us whether when he made the statement on 22^nd November he was speaking on Mr. Ryan’s behalf or as Premier of the Cayman Islands.

This is a critically important issue because the outstanding $6M is in fact deferred duties with respect to the Ritz-Carlton Property owed to Government by Michael Ryan and/or one or other of his companies. When the Ritz-Carlton property was being developed in 2002 the Government, led by Mr. Bush who was then Leader of Government Business, granted various concessions to Michael Ryan, the developer. Part of that package was concessions agreeing to defer payment of various duties. When the PPM administration took office in May 2005 it was brought to our attention that payments were not being made to government in accordance with the terms of the agreement by Michael Ryan and/or his companies. Accordingly we instructed the Financial Secretary to pursue the outstanding payments. After some time and real effort the Financial Secretary reached an agreement with Michael Ryan and /or one or other of his companies whereby the outstanding amounts would be paid by quarterly installments. A number of these installments were paid, the most recent on 31^st March, 2009. The elections were held in May 2009 and the UDP won office. No payments have been received by Government from Michael Ryan and/or any of his companies with respect to the outstanding deferred duties since 31^st March 2009.

So on behalf of the people of this country I now call on the Premier to provide a full and frank explanation of his relationship with Michael Ryan and to tell us why his government has not collected any of the outstanding duties payable by Michael Ryan and/or his companies. Further, he must explain why he has compounded the situation by squandering the opportunity afforded by the recent sale of the Ritz-Carlton to recover the outstanding $6M which, had he acted in a timely and competent manner, the country could have obtained.

END

Note: Whilst we have published the “Ritz-Carlton Statement from Cayman Islands Premier” in full you will have to physically execute Hon. Alden McLaughlin’s instructions to the letter on the CNS website to substantiate this.