WILLEMSTAD – Minister Charles Cooper says Curaçao ultimately obtained the former Sehos complex for XCG 13 million despite a recent appraisal placing its value at XCG 26.4 million, but the available notarial documents do not yet confirm the government's acquisition or establish whether the valuations cover exactly the same property.
Cooper provided the figures Monday while explaining the controversial sale of the former hospital complex to Parliament.
According to the minister, an earlier valuation placed the Sehos property at XCG 18 million, while a more recent appraisal estimated its value at XCG 26.4 million.
On that basis, Cooper maintains that the government secured a favorable transaction when it ultimately acquired the property for XCG 13 million.
The available notarial records, however, document a different sequence of transactions.
They show that bankruptcy trustee Danilo Castro Narvaez sold two Sehos parcels totaling more than 23,000 square meters to Otrabanda Village B.V. for XCG 10 million on June 30.
Six days later, Otrabanda Village sold one of those parcels to Kunuku Aqua Resorts Holding B.V. for XCG 4 million.
The documents reviewed so far do not include the subsequent deed or deeds through which the Country of Curaçao acquired the properties for the XCG 13 million mentioned by Cooper.
The appraisal reports cited by the minister are also not included in the available notarial documentation. It therefore cannot yet be established from those documents whether the XCG 18 million and XCG 26.4 million valuations concerned precisely the same parcels, buildings and property rights involved in the XCG 10 million sale.
Questions also remain about the government's position as a creditor in the Sehos bankruptcy.
Cooper referred to approximately XCG 14 million in taxes and other amounts owed to the government by Sehos.
However, earlier official government financial reporting cited a substantially higher Sehos debt to Curaçao of XCG 34.6 million and identified the Country as a preferential creditor.
Clarification of the different figures is important because the government's status as creditor and its subsequent decision to acquire the former hospital property are financially connected to the wider Sehos bankruptcy.
Documentation of the government's final acquisition would also establish precisely what Curaçao bought, from whom it was purchased and how the XCG 13 million purchase price was calculated.