A bird’s-eye view of the Mullet Bay property in October 2022. (File photo)
WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG–Iranian-American billionaire Hushang Ansary has been ordered by judges in Willemstad to pay US $24,500 towards the retainer fee of the court-appointed expert evaluating the Mullet Bay property in St. Maarten.
The assessment is part of the high-profile civil case surrounding financial mismanagement at Curaçao-based insurance company Ennia.
Former Ennia executives Abdallah Andraous and Ralph Palm have also been ordered to each pay $24,500, alongside former owner Ansary. The three have until December 10 to transfer the combined $73,500 to the Joint Court’s escrow account.
The expert – Greg Becker of Colliers International Valuation and Advisory Services in West Palm Beach, Florida – can only start his independent investigation after the funds have been received.
Once paid, Becker has four months to complete the final report. Part of the investigation will be an on-site tour of the property.
The court has set the next hearing in this case for April 15, 2025, “in anticipation of the final report,” according to an interim verdict on Tuesday, provided to this newspaper by Curaçao newspaper Antilliaans Dagblad.
In September 2023, the Joint Court of Justice found Ansary liable to the tune of almost $143 million for financial wrongdoing at Ennia. This provisional verdict included excessive payments that were unrelated to the insurance company, such as donations to Ansary’s private causes, salaries to fictitious staff and personal assistants, and the cost of private jets.
However, it did not include expenses linked to the overvaluation of Mullet Bay.
The real value of the Mullet Bay property, once a thriving golf resort and timeshare location, is crucial for the court in assessing the legitimacy of allegedly exorbitant dividend payments to the shareholders of Ennia’s parent company Parman International. Ansary held 77% of the parent company’s shares.
The Joint Court’s verdict last year was in the appeal of the Court of First Instance’s verdict of November 2021, which found Ansary, his daughter Nina, and (former) directors, supervisory directors, and shareholders liable for more than NAf. 1 billion.
In the lower court’s verdict, Ansary and the co-defendants were ordered to pay an amount of NAf. 188.9 million for wrongful dividend payments.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/ansary-ordered-to-pay-so-expert-valuation-of-mullet-bay-can-start
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