8 April 2017 – Chairman’s Update

8 April 2017

To all Club Los Claveles Members
Copy for information to Escritura Owners

I arrived home last night after a very happy and successful 3 weeks in Los Claveles.  I did not use the word “holiday” even though some of it was.

The Wednesday gatherings were very well supported and everyone eager to hear up to the minute news on how matters were progressing towards a fully independent Resort, controlled by the Owners.  Everyone I spoke with was 100% in favour of the actions taken so far and those proposed for the future.  For those that could not attend the Special General Meeting on 22 April 2017 proxy forms were completed for me to bring back to the UK.  The news that the Club would be invoicing and collected the maintenance fees from Owners was greeted with joy, even though there were some comments of “about time”.

Whilst in Tenerife I also had three meeting with Snr Hiro Bulchand over a three day period and a meeting with the bank setting up an account to be used by the Club in Tenerife.  You will see from the minutes of the last AGM that Snr Bulchand was appointed as Administrator. (We have to have an Administrator in Spain. It is a legal requirement).

On my return to the UK I found a letter from WimPen and signed by Mr Pengelly.  The fact that a letter had been sent was anticipated but it was surprising that it was signed by Mr Pengelly.  The facts are that Mr Pengelly retired from his post of Managing Director (sometimes called President in Spain) and I was informed by him that the Managing Director of WimPen was Snr German Castro.  Snr Castro is also the Chief Executive (President) of Onagrup.  He is based in Barcelona.  It appears that Mr Pengelly is working as a consultant and is being used as a puppet with the strings being held by Onagrup.  This being the case, then Mr Pengelly should not have signed this letter portraying that he is doing so on behalf of WimPen.  In our view this makes the letter null and void and should be disregarded entirely.

On first reading the letter with the logo Ona WimPen I was mildly amused.  This is not the first such letter to be received over a period of time that has been illegally sent.  However, like the last letter sent via the Club Members Register this letter also gives the date of the Special General Meeting 22 April 2017.  Under no circumstances can anyone say that they were not aware of the meeting.  Thank you Mr Pengelly.

Under normal circumstances this appalling letter would not justify a response but I do appreciate that not everyone is in receipt of all the information that I have.  Although we try to give as much information to members as possible we are restricted by confidentiality rules of Arbitration.  WimPen is similarly restricted but Mr Pengelly chooses to disregard this with his letter, and not for the first time.
  
 I set out some important points.

Early in the Arbitration an Order was made for WimPen to hand to me, as Chairman, the Club Members Register.  WimPen has failed to comply.  We believe there are two reasons.  Firstly, it makes it difficult to communicate with all members when we need to for any purpose including calling an Annual General Meeting.  Secondly, WimPen believes that without the database we could not collect the Maintenance Fees. Maintenance fees are important because it makes the Club self-sufficient, something WimPen wishes to avoid.

The Special General Meeting on 22 April 2017 and the collection by the Club of Maintenance Fees are nothing to do with Arbitration.  The simple fact is that by WimPen’s own admission the WimPen contract with the Club ends on 2 May 2017.  The letter tries to mislead you otherwise.  In the WimPen letter it states that they were given a three year contract ending in 2019.  The meeting that awarded this took place in May last year. WimPen only invited Escritura owners to this meeting (15% of the Resort).  The owners present proposed a vote of no confidence in Mr Pengelly as Chairman of the meeting and when he refused to take a vote at least 80% of those present walked out.  Mr Pengelly then used all his proxy votes and a considerable number of votes held by WimPen as owners to carry a resolution giving it a contract.  This is the contract he talks about.  Regarding the DOA (Development Owners Association), this comprises all of the Owners, and the Club has at least 85% of the votes.  The Club was not invited to the meeting and was prevented from voting.  Mr Pengelly used his proxy votes and the ownership of WimPen to elect himself as President.  If there are any Escritura owners reading this they will note that none of this is included in the minutes of that meeting.  As President of the DOA Mr Pengelly is required by the Statutes (Spanish Constitution legally enforceable) to hold an AGM in the May Resort close down.  He is refusing to do this using arbitration as an excuse.  Escritura and the DOA are not parties to the Arbitration.

Club Special General Meeting


At the Club AGM the members approved a resolution for the Chairman to be able to call any future general meetings. The Constitution does not prevent this. Although we have more than 10% of members requesting an SGM we have no obligation to share this information with WimPen. They are the contractor of the past not the future. And in the future we will work our way towards bringing the communities together as it used to be.

Maintenance Fees

Once the contract with WimPen ends on 2 May 2017 it will be illegal for it to collect Club Maintenance Fees. If it collects fees and does not hand them to the Committee this will be theft. Criminal charges could follow. This is why arrangements have been made for the Club to collect its own fees, although WimPen has done everything to try and frustrate this process.

Two years ago Mr Pengelly informed me that Onagrup would buy themselves out of any difficulties. He said that they were a multi-national company with great wealth.  He said that they would keep the issue tied up with lawyers until the Club could no longer finance any action against them.  He was telling the truth.  This has been their strategy.  It is only because the Committee and supporting members have dug deep into their pockets that we have managed to reach this stage.  This is the real reason why they wish to keep control of your money.


Club Funds


During the Arbitration WimPen was ordered to hand over €125,000 of our money to pay for present and future legal costs.  It did not.  The Order was changed to an Interim Award, which is legally enforceable.  It has refused.  This shows that if you pay maintenance fees to WimPen there is a possibility you will never see them again. WimPen presently hold over €600,000 of Club money.  When you pay the Club your maintenance fee a proportion of this can be used to finance recovery of the Club’s assets.  Unfortunately this has to be done in Spain and our Administrator is in full support.


I will close by repeating that the meeting on 22 April 2017 and the collection of Maintenance Fees is nothing to do with Arbitration.  The WimPen contract has come to an end.  Please support your fellow Club Members by supporting the meeting and paying your fees which we will start to collect very shortly.  
Here is a 
LINK to the Proxy Form for your immediate use.  Please complete and return the form to me by 11am on 20 April 2017 at the latest.
 

YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU.




Kind Regards,
 

AEJF Signature
 
 
Albert Fletcher
Chairman, Club Los Claveles.
 
If you have any questions or comments on the update please send them to communications@losclavelesowners.eu.
Une traduction française sera disponible. Veuillez envoyer translations@losclavelesowners.eu pour obtenir une copie.
Eine deutsche Übersetzung steht zur Verfügung. Bitte E-Mail translations@losclavelesowners.eu für eine Kopie.

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