| A transcript of Mr Barrow’s letter appears at the bottom of this article. A PDF copy of the original letter can be downloaded here. |
| THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH & NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH The Club Chairman’s response to Mr Barrow’s undated letter that selected owners have received this week. |
| Resort Bank Account As far as we know, WimPen have placed all monies from both Escritura and Club into one bank account controlled by WimPen. Since then: 1. The Club instructed WimPen to separate the accounts in 2016 having received Spanish legal advice that what they were doing was illegal. 2. The Escritura/DOA meeting in 2016 instructed WimPen to separate the accounts. 3. The Arbitration held in Scotland ORDERED WimPen in 2017 to separate the accounts. 4. WimPen appealed to the Scottish Court of Session Appeal Court. 5. The Scottish Court of Session dismissed WimPen’s appeal and ORDERED WimPen to separate the accounts and return the money to the Club. 6. The Arbitration was translated into Spanish and was submitted to the Spanish Supreme Court in 2018. The Court confirmed the Arbitration and ORDERED WimPen to divide the bank account and return the Club’s money. There is no appeal against this and it is final and binding. 7. On 10 December 2018 the Spanish Court of Arona, Los Cristianos stated that it was wrong for WimPen to invoice and collect maintenance fees. The same court stated that Club maintenance fees should be paid to the Club Administrator. Not surprisingly WimPen have appealed. In my opinion this is futile but any excuse for a delay and causing the Club added expense. Our lawyer’s view is that the appeal has no merit. 8. Ernst and Young were engaged by WimPen to audit the accounts to ascertain which money belongs to the Club. This report was due at the end of January. As far as we know WimPen had not supplied the required information leading to a delay. A promise was made to have the report ready for 31 March 2019. We are still waiting to see the report. 9. On 1 April 2019 the Club successfully defended a court action in England which was brought by a Club member who was supported and encouraged by supporters of WimPen, including Mr Barrow. The Judge stated that: * The member must pay his maintenance fee to the Club Administrator as stated in the Constitution. * The member should consider taking action against WimPen as they were NOT entitled to collect maintenance fees from Club members or prevent them from using their apartments. Cost of running and maintaining the Resort 10. WimPen has no contract with the Club. WimPen has no entitlement to involve itself in the affairs of the Club, including the maintenance of the Villas. WimPen refuse to hand over the Clubs Properties. When WimPen stop collecting Club money and advise owners to pay the Club Committee the Club will be in a position to pay a fair and reasonable contribution to the running of the Common Areas (DOA). When President of the DOA, Mr Pengelly received no less than three letters from the Club Chairman requesting that the Club be invoiced for its contribution. Mr Barrow has received several letters also. In my view, the only reason why WimPen and Mr Barrow do not do this is so that they can keep control of the Resort and encourage owners to pay them. Joint Meetings. Why is Mr Barrow and WimPen pursuing this 11. More questions: * Why is WimPen/Onagrup refusing to comply with the directions of the judges in Spain, Scotland and England? * Why is WimPen/Onagrup desperate to remain in control of the Resort? * Why are they spending so much time, energy and money? * Why do they wish to hold a joint meeting? I, and a majority of members, do not believe it is because they have the best interests of members at their heart. If that was the case they would not be treating them so badly with warning letters and blocking their access to apartments and the use of RCI. Some answers: * The Club has to have its own meeting to comply with the Constitution. The responsibility to call and manage the meetings are with the Chairman and Club Committee. This cannot be delegated to any other body or individual. * WimPen/Onagrup are no longer Club members. Their membership was cancelled due to misconduct, including the non-payment of maintenance fees. * WimPen/Onagrup (Ana Martin) tried to use 1,200 weeks as proxy votes in the last Club AGM. These weeks had been transferred to various companies, including those domiciled in Luxembourg and Morocco. On investigation it was found that the weeks were in fact the cancelled weeks which were the property of the Club. The last Club AGM in April 2018 passed a resolution to allow the Club Chairman to cast all the Club votes at a meeting of the DOA. Mr Barrow refused to accept these votes at the DOA meeting. Under the circumstances, shown above, any reasonable person must come to the conclusion that having a meeting where WimPen/Onagrup is allowed to vote and the Club not being allowed to vote would be a travesty of justice. Mr Barrow appears keen to see the end of the dispute. Mr Barrow has it in his power to instruct WimPen/Onagrup to comply with Court orders. When he does this the dispute will be over. I call upon all Owners to instruct Mr Barrow to comply. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Your Chairman,  Albert Fletcher Chairman, Club Los Claveles ************************************************************************************************* Transcript of Mr Barrow’s undated letter: Los Claveles Development Owners Association Andorra, 2, Los Cristianos, 38650 Arona, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain TO: All owners and members of the LOS CLAVELES RESORT/LOS CLAVELES DEVELOPMENT OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION. Dear Member/Owner I am sure that like me, you are tired of the ongoing dispute between the club and Wimpen and want to see it peacefully resolved. As elected President in the 2018 AGM of the Owners Association, I want to clarify the different issues that have arisen regarding the bank account where the maintenance fees and other payments are collected for Los Claveles Resort, as I am aware that this issue is causing club members much concern: 1. The holder of the bank account in CAIXABANK is the ‘Comunidad de Propietarios Los Claveles’ (Community of Owners Los Claveles ) Only the “Comunidad de Propietarios”, or any proxy or representative duly empowered and on behalf of the ‘Comunidad de Propietarios’, may dispose or administrate the monies funding such bank account, and no one else has access to such funds. 2. WimPen are the contracted administrators for the Community of Owners and manage this account on our behalf. 3. The CAIXABANK account is where all the payments have been made by owners of any kind (escritura owners and club members) of the Los Claveles Resort for the last 20+ years, as maintenance fees and other payments. Also, this account is where all the resort running costs are charged (electricity, cleaning, water supply, taxes, etc.), including wages for the all the staff. This guarantees the financial viability and site improvements at Los Claveles. So you have a resort you can always enjoy, this is the account in which all the escritura owners and club members should pay their maintenance fees to ensure access to the resort. No increase of the maintenance fees is planned for the next year. 4. It should be noted that any payments made to the Club Los Claveles are not paid into this account so do not contribute to the running costs of the resort. 5. At this moment, no matter what misinformation may have been disclosed, no final, firm, and enforceable judgment and/or arbitral award has changed the status of such bank account, that will continue combined for the funding of all owners, as the only account open by the ‘Comunidad de Propietarios Los Claveles’. 6. In the same way, there is no final and enforceable judgment that bans Wimpenfrom invoicing and collecting the maintenance fees, as this issue is still under judicial review so Wimpen is not going against any Court order or resolution. As President of the Owners Association I hope that a general meeting of the DOA, which will include all escritura owners and club members, is called, where all members/owners are invited to put forward their own proposals, and all together decide on the future for Los Claveles. But, as far as I know, such idea has not been accepted by Mr. Fletcher and the Club Committee. Finally, please be sure that as President of the Owners’ Association I will work for your best interests in Los Claveles, with the hope of seeing the end of all disputes, to improve the resort and see everyone working together in harmony to enjoy the results together. Your sincerely Roger Barrow President Development Owners’ Association, Los Claveles |