Who is developer Patrick Ellis?
Turks & Caicos Informers
He is the man Premier Ewart Brown has suggested could help finally
turn blighted Morgan's Point into a destination to rival the Atlantis
in the Bahamas. But pinning down British developer Patrick Ellis —
whose name came up during the Commission of Inquiry hearings into
alleged corruption in Turks and Caicos but was not mentioned in the
redacted final report — has not proven easy for The Royal Gazette.
Here we detail our efforts to determine his track record in hotel
development.
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By Sam Strangeways
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His name has been linked with several high-profile luxury resorts in
Turks and Caicos — but Patrick Ellis seems reluctant to talk about his
involvement with any of them.
The hotels themselves also seem less than keen to discuss the part Mr.
Ellis played in their development — despite being contacted numerous
times by this newspaper to do so.
When it was revealed last month that Premier Ewart Brown had asked
Southlands Ltd., the potential developers of Morgan's Point, to meet
with Mr. Ellis in New York with a view to working with him, The Royal
Gazette went on a fact-finding mission.
Government provided little information except to say that Mr. Ellis
developed the five-star Amanyara in Turks and Caicos (TCI) and spoke
for the Aman brand. We approached the Amanyara, an Amanresorts hotel,
and asked if Mr. Ellis helped to build it.
Tania Rydon, one of the managers at the Providenciales resort, told
us: "I don't think it's something I should be talking about. There is
no official comment from Amanyara."
We tried for several weeks to get an answer from the Amanresorts press
office in Hong Kong, but media communications manager Anjali
Nihalchand never replied again after writing in a February 25 e-mail:
"I am trying to locate someone on the development side of our company
to find out Mr Ellis's involvement with Amanyara."
Ms Rydon directed us to a woman called Foluso Ladejobi, of business
consulting service The Source, whom she said worked with Mr. Ellis in
TCI.
Ms Ladejobi told us in an e-mail that Mr. Ellis negotiated the airport
development contract in Providenciales with the British Government
"which paved the way for future development in the islands".
She didn't answer further questions about him or provide a biography
but she did e-mail an April 2003 article from the Turks & Caicos
Weekly News.
The piece described Mr. Ellis as a developer based in Monte Carlo and
the "visionary" who brought the luxury Amanresorts hotel chain to TCI
after a long involvement with the Caribbean island.
It goes on: "Patrick Ellis arduously began the development of Club
Med. The Club Med in Turks & Caicos became the most successful Club
Med in operation.
"Nearly ten years later, in 1989, Mr Ellis created Parrot Cay. Parrot
Cay today is considered one the most exclusive resorts in the world,
putting Turks & Caicos on the map as the destination of the super rich
and famous.
"For these projects to take place, Mr. Ellis negotiated with the UK
Government to finance the international airport of Providenciales to
enable visitors and residents to come and go from the island,
incrementally increasing the tourism that the island relies on."
The newspaper story says Mr. Ellis established Caicos Resorts Ltd., a
business working "in partnership with other developers and private
investors who have like-minded interest in hotel development and
partnership".
A call to Jeff Morgan, general manager of Parrot Cay, a COMO hotel
which opened in December 1998, failed to confirm any link.
"I have to say, off the top of my head, that I would not be able to
confirm that," said Mr. Morgan, when asked if Mr. Ellis developed the
resort. We are unable to confirm that. He may have been involved in
the initial acquisition for the owners. We don't discuss who the
owners are."
Alice Marshall, from the hotel's New York PR agency, said: "I was with
the project from the beginning — I don't ever remember hearing his
name. He may have been involved in a more commercial sense.
"I have never heard his name in the ten-plus years I have worked for
the hotel. Maybe he was behind the scenes in some way."
Club Med public relations director Kate Moeller said: "I checked in
with our head of construction for the zone and he had never heard of
Patrick Ellis."
A Google search unearthed a June 2008 article, again from the Turks
and Caicos Weekly News, which reported that Mr. Ellis was partnering
with General Hotel Management (GHM) to create a world class resort
called The Tanai.
GHM's corporate PR coordinator Sheladina Joseph told us on March 2:
"The Tanai project is currently put on hold till further notice."
Additional questions elicited no response and it was not possible to
get a comment from French construction firm Bouygues, which was
contracted to build The Tanai.
Further Googling led to the transcripts for the Commission of Inquiry
hearings held into alleged corruption in TCI, during which Mr. Ellis'
name came up in evidence.
He was identified by Don-Hue Gardiner, the nephew of former TCI
Premier Michael Misick, as the principal of a joint venture company
called Caicos Resorts Investments Ltd.
The transcripts show how Mr. Gardiner, chairman of the Progressive
National Party and an appointed MP, was quizzed on payments of more
than $2 million made to his Caicos Group company by Caicos Resorts
Investments between 2006 and 2008.
Sir Robin Auld, the chairman of the Commission, and barrister Alex
Milne questioned Mr. Gardiner repeatedly about why the payments were
made.
Mr. Gardiner said the shareholders in his company were locals — known
as Belongers — and that Caicos Group was involved with Caicos Resorts
Investments in the development of a proposed project on Crown land in
Providenciales.
The hearing heard that Caicos Group had no financial stake in the land
but that Belongership was needed for the land to be transferred into
private ownership.
Mr. Gardiner, a lawyer, said he put nothing personally into the
project but profited by about $400,000 over a two-and-a-half year
period.
The year-long Commission of Inquiry found a high probability of
systemic corruption or other serious dishonesty by key politicians and
businessmen in TCI.
The full version of the final report has yet to be released for legal
reasons but Mr. Ellis is not named in the redacted copy.
Dr. Brown said last month: "Mr. Ellis has told us that he has not been
asked to testify in front of the Commission and that he has had no
business with the Commission."
This newspaper eventually reached the British businessman by telephone
on Friday and he agreed to speak to us after the weekend.
But when we contacted him on Monday he didn't want to be interviewed,
directing us instead to Cabinet Secretary Marc Telemaque.
Before hanging up, Mr. Ellis, who is believed to be based in Monaco
and New York, said: "I'm in London. I think you'd be better off
contacting Government.
"We are going to send Marc Telemaque some stuff today; why don't you
ask him. He will be receiving information on who we are and what we
do."
Mr. Telemaque agreed on Monday to share the information. He said
yesterday: "The information has been received and it would be
premature to release it at this stage."
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