Veteran Barbadian hotelier Peter Odle, is being sued for more than a million dollars over a loan deal with an Irish investor.
The case, which was filed back in 2018 in the Barbados Supreme Court , is now set for hearing on July 29 and 30, after a closed-door case management sitting that took place on February 3.
According to the claim document dated September 17, 2018, a copy of which has been obtained by Barbados TODAY, investor William Alan McIntosh took legal action against Sandy Bay Holdings (2014) Inc., the first defendant; and Odle – a director – the second defendant.
The claimant, who resides in Dublin, Ireland has claimed that he entered into the loan agreement with Sandy Bay Holdings on October 11, 2017 to lend the company US$2,500,000 to complete construction of condominiums at Sandy Beach, Worthing, Christ Church.
McIntosh said he agreed to disburse the loan in two tranches – US$2,050,000 in tranche A and US$450,000 as the final payout.
According to the court document, the parties agreed that the claimant would inject the first part of the loan once Sandy Bay satisfied certain conditions which included the need for confirmation by the company that Republic Bank would advance a further Bds$12.1 million after the claimant had put the money into Sandy Bay.
Another condition was that Odle, who owns Mango Bay Hotel in Holetown, St James provides the lender with a personal guarantee for the amount of the loan.
The court documents also disclosed that the company had to satisfy the Irish investor that the construction being carried out at Sandy Beach would be completed with his loan and the additional funding from Republic Bank.
“The company shall register the loan proceeds with the Central Bank of Barbados and apply for approval from the Exchange Control Authority of Barbados for the making of the loan after each tranche of the loan is remitted to Barbados by the lender,” the statement of claim read.
The claimant also stated that under the loan accord, Sandy Bay was required to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars from the first tranche in deposits due as part of a Share Purchase Agreement, including payments to one North Beach for advances to consultants and various other sums to individuals and firms.
The investor alleges that after he remitted the first tranche of US$2,050,000 to his attorneys, Lex Caribbean on October 16, 2017, they wrongfully disbursed US$2,000,000 to Sandy Bay, but only part of it was repaid.
The court file revealed that the claimant met Odle around November 6, 2017 in London in his capacity as a director of Sandy Bay and asked him to return all the funds disbursed to his company. The court document also alleges that on November 14 of the same year, Sandy Bay only returned a portion of the “wrongful” disbursement when it paid in to Lex Caribbean The lender is therefore claiming that Odle and his company neglected and failed to pay the outstanding balance of Tranche A, which was not returned to Lex Caribbean, being the sum of US$550,000.
The lender is further contending that Odle is obligated to pay all sums not paid by his company under the terms of the guarantee and has failed to do so; that the company also breached the contract by not registering the loan proceeds with the Central Bank and by failing to confirm that Republic Bank would advance a further US$12.1 million after the loan was disbursed.
As a result, the Irish investor is asking the court to rule against Odle and Sandy Bay jointly and individually for the outstanding balance of US$550,000 owed, interest at one per cent per annum, costs and any such further orders the court deems fit.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
