The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A key player in the bitter Oceania Heights dispute yesterday expressed hope that agreement had been reached to finally “turn this ship around” and resolve it, with the ultimate objective being to “bring back some of the value lost”.

Chris Fleming, who has led the homeowners in their battle with the Exuma-based property’s developers, Canadian citizen Howard Obront and Bahamian attorney, Anthony Thompson, said he was “pretty excited” about the outcome of yesterday’s meeting at Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis’s office.

The meeting, which was attended by Mr Thompson and Exuma Chamber of Commerce president, Pedro Rolle, who has been attempting to broker a solution to the long-running dispute, saw the Deputy Prime Minister demand that the homeowners’ proposed solution be accepted by all parties.

Mr Thompson purportedly agreed to accept the proposal by Oceania Heights homeowners, which was not much different from the offer he submitted to them on October 4, 2013.

Optimistic that they may be on the road to resolution once again, Mr Fleming told Tribune Business: “There are some legal things that need to be accomplished, and the Deputy Prime Minister wants these to be done in the next two weeks to get things going.”

Mr Fleming said this included the transfer of certain lands, and added: “I’m pretty excited about this. The Government has stepped in and done the right thing.

“Now we have a path to turn the ship around there and make things right. I’ll never get my money back, but at least we can make the best of the situation.”

With the Oceania Heights Property Owners Association now established, Mr Fleming said the homeowners would look to use due and owing maintenance fees to take care of issues such as turning the water back on.

“At least people will then be able to use their homes this winter,” Mr Fleming told Tribune Business. “We will spruce the place up, make a name change and rebrand it, and hopefully bring back some of the value lost.”

Mr Thompson completely reworked a previous settlement offer, which was unanimously rejected by the Oceania Heights homeowners and described as “absolutely nuts” by Mr Fleming.

He alleged that Mr Thompson’s initial offer sought to effectively leave the homeowners with all the developers’ $2.76 million liabilities.

A copy of that proposed settlement, which was seen by Tribune Business, agreed to transfer to the homeowners all the common areas, roadways and unsold lots (some 24).

The agreement also committed Mr Thompson to complete the conveyances for 18 homeowners who had paid the full purchase price but not received their documents, and passes to the Property Owners Association some $692,129 in unpaid maintenance fees.

But, in return, the proposal handed the burden of installing the remaining infrastructure at Oceania Heights to the homeowners, along with the contractual obligations previously belonging to Mr Thompson and the landholding firm, Oceania Heights.

And it also left the burden of paying $161,300 allegedly owed to five Oceania Heights staff, plus $6,000 in unpaid National Insurance Board (NIB) contributions, with the homeowners.

In addition, the document burdened the Oceania Heights Property Owners Association with paying the Stamp Duty on the 18 conveyances Mr Thompson is completing, and the “unpaid Stamp Duties and penalties alleged to have been remitted” to the attorney’s law firm but never passed on to the Government.

And, in return for taking over his multi-million dollar liabilities, Mr Thompson wanted the Oceania Heights homeowners to indemnify him and his law firm from “any liability - whether legal or otherwise”.

However, in his radically revised October 4 offer, Mr Thompson agreed to leave Oceania Heights intact, holding on to the liabilities, and with the Chamber’s Mr Rolle appointed as its chief executive.

The homeowners, in their October 9 counter, which Mr Davis has told all parties to accept, agreed that Mr Thompson will continue to own Oceania Heights, but his shares will be placed in trust.

Trustees will have the power to vote these shares, and Mr Rolle will report to them. “Anthony Thompson could receive some benefits, if any, but will not make any decisions regarding Oceania Heights and its operations,” the homeowners’ proposed solution said.

“In this structure, Oceania Heights does not convey the remaining lots to the Property Owners Association. However, all receivables will be transferred to the Property Owners Association (including installment contracts and overdue maintenance charges),” the proposed solution says.

“Anthony Thompson and Anthony Thompson & Company will cooperate fully and execute deeds, documents and do other necessary things to give effect to this agreement.”

Mr Rolle will “manage, market and develop the resort exclusively in the interest of the investors for an initial period of five years or until all” elements of the solution have been agreed.

The main complaints of Oceania Heights homeowners are that they have been unable to obtain title/conveyancing documents to the properties they have bought; there are questions whether more than $880,000 in Stamp Tax they paid has been passed on to the Treasury; Mr Thompson failed to disclose he was also a beneficial owner of Oceania Heights when acting for the buyers in their purchases; the same lots have been sold to different buyers; and the hotel and other promised amenities have not been constructed.

Messrs Thompson and Obront have consistently, and vehemently, denied all the allegations against them.