Amandala has confirmed from legal sources in the Turks and Caicos that the Supreme Court in that country is set to hear a $4 million claim on Monday, May 5, 2014, by Johnston International Limited (an international engineering and construction firm now in liquidation) against Coral Square Limited – a company which has been identified as a subsidiary of Waterloo Investments, a Michael Ashcroft company.
The lawsuit is over funds owing for the construction of a $15.75 million waterfront estate of the former premier of the Turks and Caicos, Michael Misick, which Johnston International (formerly an Ashcroft company) was contracted to build, with financing channeled through Coral Square by the Ashcroft group, which operates a complex network of companies, many of them offshore in countries such as Belize and the Turks and Caicos.
Our legal source said that Coral Square held the charge for the investment, and they believe that the debt is recoverable.
Of note is that two companies linked to Coral Square — Northtown and Southtown, have also held shares in Belize Telemedia Limited via Mercury Communications Limited – a vehicle which Ashcroft once used to buy out the BTL shares of hundreds of Belizeans.
The Supreme Court summons issued earlier this month by the Senior Deputy Registrar of the Turks and Caicos court says that Johnston had petitioned for judgment in the action, claiming $4,080,982, which the defendant company has allegedly admitted it owes to the plaintiff.
The summons also indicated that the party wishing to oppose the claim should respond within three days of the hearing, along with affidavits to be used.
As we reported back in July 2010, the Belize Bank was once a sister company of Johnston International, under the headship of BHI Corp. BHI became BCB Holdings, the new mother company of the Belize Bank, and it had also, interestingly, reassumed control of the assets and operations of Johnston International via the receivership. Johnston International also operated in the Cayman Islands as Hadsphaltic Limited.