ROWLEY’S TOBAGO SANDALS DEAL EXPOSED

PRIME Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne has managed to expose the exploitative business deal that Sandals Resorts was proposing for Tobago.

Browne did so by telling the luxury brand to pay US $11.1 million in outstanding taxes for its 373-room Sandals Grande Antigua – or take its business elsewhere.

The Prime Minister accused Jamaican-owned Sandals of also underpaying workers and of practising “a colonialist model that does not work for Caribbean people.”

Sandals was proposing a similar business model for its much-touted 750-room resort at Buccoo-Golden Grove in Tobago.

Shortly after coming into national office in 2015, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley struck a deal with Sandals’ then-Executive Chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart and strongly advocated the project.

But critics said that Sandals would have gotten extensive tax holidays with minimal financial benefits for the local economy.

The parliamentary opposition asked about concessions, tax breaks and other relevant business arrangements.

The memorandum of understanding between the Government and Sandals was revealed only after a lawsuit was filed by public activist Afra Raymond.

After relentless public criticism of the business contract, Stewart abandoned the plan, blaming bad publicity.

Rowley responded with outrage at critics of the deal.

The resort firm has extracted multi-year tax deals and other incentives from various host Caribbean countries.

Earlier this year, Sandals was involved in a similar dispute in The Bahamas, where it was accused of hiding up to 60 per cent of its revenues.

After a heated public wrangle, a payment settlement was negotiated.

In 2016, Antigua and Barbuda ended a 2009 arrangement that permitted Sandals to keep 65 per cent of its sales tax.

That led to a public dispute with the hotel firm.

Stewart died in January 2021 and was succeeded by his son Adams Stewart.

A fed-up Browne accused “so-called investors” of “trying to wring out every ounce of revenue out of the business and they don’t want the government to get anything in the form of taxes.”

Of Sandals, he said: “Every where they go, it is the same modus operandi.’

Directing his remarks to Adams Stewart, the Prime Minister said: “You cannot rely exclusively on exploiting concessions and to push the government into the ground.”

He compared the financial model to those of the colonial period.

“Sandals needs to end this practice immediately,” he stressed.

The latest Sandals row has rekindled concerns about vulnerable Caribbean countries being taken advantage of by major investors.

Sandals, which has resorts in eight regional territories, employs a reported 16,500 workers.

But the company has long been accused of reaping the major financial benefits, leaving little for the respective islands.

Prime Minister Browne’s hardline stance has laid bare the lopsided business arrangement between Sandals and the Rowley Administration.