PHILIPSBURG - The St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies (SHGC) has said that it considers the legal claim by Zebec Development N.V. – which is taking SHGC and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Mingo to court for over US $100 million – to be "wholly without merit,"

adding that Zebec's published claims were "blatant misrepresentation of facts" that aimed to shift the blame of the failed project on the Harbour.

 

The reaction comes after Zebec announced that it was taking the Harbour to court over alleged breaches to the contract, having filed the claim on August 20. "The claim stems from the Harbour's repeated failure to meet its contractual obligations as defined under various agreements." The story was published in The Daily Herald the following day.

 

A SHGC press release issued on Sunday announced that the Harbour plans to defend the case vigorously before the Court, and that it "has complete confidence in the positive outcome of these proceedings."

 

According to SHGC, "the Harbour never failed to honour signed agreements between the parties. On the contrary, the Harbour has repeatedly given Zebec the opportunity to proceed with the project...Zebec, however, has not been able to progress beyond the initial phase of the project even though some two-and-a-half years have passed since the signing of the development agreement."

 

The press release went on to say that Zebec recently took the position "that it would not pursue the project anymore unless previously agreed conditions, as laid down in signed agreements, would be altered in its favour.

 

"When the Harbour maintained the position that the project should be completed in accordance with the signed agreements, Zebec chose to abandon the project and issue a frivolous lawsuit, in an obvious attempt to shift the blame of the project's collapse towards the Harbour," the Harbour's legal team was quoted as saying in the press release.

 

The Harbour said that it regretted that Zebec abandoned the project after SHGC invested "significant time and funds, inter alia for preparing the development land for the project." It added that it will now "seek alternative opportunities to develop the land for the benefit of St. Maarten, its economy and its people," and look into options of recovering damages from Zebec.

Zebec management could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

 

(The Daily Herald)