PNM Tobago Council political leader Ancil Dennis has revealed that Original Canopy Tours Enterprises Ltd, which earned a THA contract in 2015 to build a 1.5km zipline in Tobago’s Main Ridge that never materialised, does exist.
At a news conference last Friday, Chief Secretary Farley Augustine claimed the company was not legitimate.
He made the claim after the THA received two freezing orders against the Original Canopy Tours Enterprises Ltd – one in Trinidad and Tobago and another in the British Virgin islands (BVI) where the company is based.
One order was granted against Richard Graham and Darren Hreniuk, of Original Canopy Tours by Justice Kevin Ramcharan on November 5. The other was granted last Thursday by Justice Gerhard Wallbank in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court’s commercial division for the High Court of the BVI.
The Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) had criticised the PNM and former Tobago Council leader Davidson-Celestine for its handling of the failed project in the run up to the January 2021 THA election.
The party had claimed that the project, which was a major talking point of the campaign, never came to fruition despite several millions being spent. Davidson-Celestine was secretary of tourism when the project was announced in 2015.
She has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying that the project had barely got off the ground when she left office to take up duties as ambassador to Costa Rica in April 2017.
But weeks before the December 6, 2021, THA election, the former Dennis-led THA administration sued the company for alleged breach of contract.
At the news conference, Augustine had said, “After commencing civil proceedings against Original Canopy Tours Ltd for the receiver of millions of dollars spent on the project, it was discovered that the company was not in fact a legitimate company.”
He claimed the THA’s attorneys, John Jeremie, SC, did the necessary search in the BVI where the company was said to be registered, based on its registration documents presented to the THA “But I just found that the company just does not exist there at all.”
Augustine said the matter is now in the hands of the police.
But at a news conference, carried live on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Dennis denied Augustine’s claim that Original Canopy Tours Enterprises Ltd was not a legitimate company.
Dennis read from a document headlined, Territory of the British Virgin Islands: BVI Business Company’s Act 2004, Certificate of Good Standing.
He revealed the name of the company is OCT Enterprises Ltd and its BVI company number 430213.
“The company is not only in existence but by virtue of the information within this document, this company is also in good standing,” he said.
Dennis said he has already transmitted this information to the relevant players.
“I am also going to share it with you the members of the public, you Tobagonians so you can see for yourself how your chief secretary has once again opted to mislead the people of Tobago, just like he did back in 2020, leading up t
