WILLEMSTAD – Minister Charles Cooper has intensified his dispute with SEHOS bankruptcy trustee Danilo Narvaez by publishing documents showing that the former hospital complex was valued at XCG 19.5 million in an appraisal commissioned by the Curaçao government in August 2022.
The documents directly challenge the valuation figures cited by Narvaez in his October 7 explanation of why the former St. Elisabeth Hospital complex was sold to Otrabanda Village B.V. for XCG 10 million.
Cooper published pages from the 2022 appraisal on social media, accusing the trustee of selling the historic property for substantially less than its assessed value.
The appraisal, prepared by three valuation professionals from Anprocor N.V., Caresto International N.V. and RvM Design & Taxaties, was commissioned by the Ministry of Traffic, Transport and Urban Planning.
According to the document, the hospital complex at Breedestraat 193 in Otrobanda had an estimated private-sale market value of XCG 19.5 million as of August 24, 2022.
The same appraisal placed its forced-sale value at XCG 11.7 million.
These figures are important because Narvaez stated in his letter that he considered the XCG 10 million offer from Otrabanda Village acceptable partly because he possessed a September 2022 appraisal indicating a forced-sale value of XCG 8.15 million.
The newly published documents therefore reveal a substantial difference between the valuation cited by the trustee and the appraisal commissioned by the government.
The XCG 19.5 million figure represents the estimated market value under a normal private sale, while the XCG 11.7 million figure represents the estimated proceeds under a forced-sale scenario.
Cooper questioned why the hospital complex was sold for XCG 10 million when the 2022 government-commissioned appraisal already placed its forced-sale value at XCG 11.7 million.
The minister also referred to a newer appraisal reportedly prepared in 2026, which he said valued the property at XCG 26.3 million under normal private-sale conditions and XCG 18.5 million under forced-sale conditions.
Those 2026 figures were stated by Cooper, but the images accompanying his reaction show pages from the 2022 appraisal rather than the complete newer report.
Narvaez previously said he was unaware of appraisal reports placing the property’s value at approximately XCG 18 million or XCG 26 million.
The 2022 appraisal identifies the property as approximately 23,000 square meters, including the former hospital buildings and associated facilities.
The dispute comes after the government and CMC Real Estate acquired the former hospital property from private owners as part of plans to redevelop the historic complex and surrounding area.
The publication of the appraisal adds another dimension to the controversy, raising questions about which valuation reports were available to the trustee, whether the government had provided its appraisal to the bankruptcy estate and how the different valuations should have influenced the sale.
The documents establish that a government-commissioned appraisal existed in 2022, but they do not establish whether Narvaez received it before approving the transaction.