(Antigua Sun) – Nigel Hamilton-Smith, the liquidator of the Stanford International Bank (SIB) in Antigua and Barbuda is proposing to develop Guiana Island, which is owned by Sir Allen Stanford, to generate money to repay investors who were allegedly swindled in the alleged Ponzi scheme.
Hamilton-Smith was appointed SIB receiver in February and liquidator in April along with his partner Peter Wastell.
According to a 9 July Bloomberg article, Hamilton-Smith said he may be able to repay depositors more than the projected 10 cents on the dollar if he can persuade developers to build a Caribbean island resort on Guiana Island, which is about 500 acres.
His plans are also dependent on whether he can get US receiver Ralph Janvey to stop fighting him for control of overseas assets.
He told Bloomberg, “I’m drawing up a detailed plan of what the land can become, design a resort, show what can be done, so I can go out to a major hotel group or investors and say, ‘Here’s an island, and here are your development costs.’“
The government had in 2007 refused to sell Stanford the land to develop.
It would have transformed the island into a luxury resort region studded with multimillion dollar homes, a mega-yacht marina, an 18-hole golf course and exclusive restaurants.
It was later discovered that Stanford had managed to acquire Guiana Island Farm lands from Asian Village Antigua Ltd, owned by Dato Tan Kay Hock, who had also promised to develop a resort, but failed to deliver on the agreement with the government.
While the proposed resort may not prove worth the US$3.2 billion Stanford claimed it was, Hamilton-Smith said proper development could generate enough value to significantly boost recovery for investors allegedly swindled of as much as US$7 billion.
US prosecutors and regulators, who have accused Stanford of defrauding investors by misrepresenting the safety and regulation of the bank’s investment portfolio, told a US judge Stanford inflated the value of Guiana Island 6,000-fold in a series of land flips conducted last year.
