To most, in the outside world, who have heard anything about it, the romantic, sleepy, tropical archipelago of the Seychelles is known for its pristine beaches, it's harmonious multiracial and multireligious society and its eclectic Creole cuisine, often served with dishes from the many far-flung parts of the World where its friendly, multicultural people originated. A tiny, richly cosmopolitan country, full of surprises - in short, a dream destination. A kaleidoscopic jewel set in the middle of a vast blue ocean.

But the outward appearance of this sunny paradise hides a darker side…

In the early nineteen-seventies an American, Dr. George R. Davison, a former fighter pilot in the United States Marine Corps and an international lawyer and businessman whose activities stretched from Europe to several countries in the Far East, came, by chance, to these sleepy islands and, through a series of coincidences, ended up building the Plantation Club, a 200-room hotel which was, for some years, the largest hotel in the country.

At the time Dr. Davison first landed in the Seychelles, the sun was setting on the British Empire and Seychelles was, shortly thereafter, to gain Independence. This new era of freedom and optimism was not to last long. Within less than a year, the legitimate government was overthrown by a coup d'état committed by France Albert René and his foreign cronies and the country was plunged into four decades of brutal dictatorship, during which people were murdered and disappeared, were beaten, imprisoned and exiled and had their land taken away, where the head of the opposition to his dictatorship was gunned down in London, in broad daylight, and where school-children, at a certain age, were forced to go into the National Youth Service camp, mostly against their will, there to be moulded into good, young "Marxists" and where schoolgirls were systematically "taken advantage of" by the powerful men in the régime . Albert René ruled through fear and with an iron fist. Corruption in government and in the judiciary flourished. In short, all of the social institutions and every aspect of life were trampled and the scars and vestiges of this still linger and affect life in Seychelles today.

On the 13th of March 1976, only months before British rule came to an end in Seychelles, Ailee Development Corporation Limited was established to realise the hotel project. It was strongly supported by the government of the day. With the newly opened airport now allowing visitors to come by air, rather than by ship, which had hitherto been the only means of reaching Seychelles, it had decided that Tourism would be the future for Seychelles. After several years of difficulties, the construction of this modern luxury hotel in the tiny, remote island nation, which few people at the time had even heard of, was completed and the Plantation Club opened its doors to the public on the 12th of October 1988.

Spread graciously over a sprawling 180-acre property backed by rugged granite cliffs and looking out over its one-kilometre-long pristine white beach to the horizon of the Indian ocean, not only was the Plantation Club host to kings, queens, heads of state and international celebrities during its twenty years of operation, but the Government of Seychelles also hosted most of its prestigious international conferences there. It was also the only large family-fun hotel in Seychelles and the only one which welcomed local people and their families and became a vibrant and popular spot, on weekends, where foreign guests and local people could mingle. It was the venue of choice for countless local Seychellois couples who held their weddings there, as did countless brides and grooms from Europe and beyond. In short, it became famous for its cuisine and its friendly and elegant ambiance - a genuine benchmark of Creole hospitality, not only in Seychelles, but wherever it was known.

While the guests at the Plantation Club were enjoying the warm hospitality, they were unaware of the dark clouds gathering over the hotel…

Over a period of ten years, one of the Hotel's frequent guests, billionaire Saudi businessman Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Abdul-Malik Al-Sheikh, who had influential ties with the then-president, James Alix Michel, tried to persuade the founder to sell his hotel. He refused all offers. Upon Dr. Davison's untimely death, the Saudi, through his agents, his Seychelles lawyer and his Swiss banker continued to try to persuade his family to sell. They declined to sell.

This should not have been of any particular consequence, but the Seychelles Government suddenly began to put pressure on the owners, threatening to close the hotel down for being substandard and demanding improvements which the company could not afford. This was despite the Government continuing to host prestigious international conferences at the, supposedly, "sub-standard" hotel. Finally, at the end of 2007, after more than a year of the owners fighting the Government's threats of closure, the Government of Seychelles simply refused to renew the hotel's operating licence, and forced the hotel to close down. The staff of more than 200 Seychellois and expatriates were made redundant and put on the streets. Four days after that, on the 4th of February 2008, the Government filed a case in the Supreme Court to put the company into liquidation. This was done illegally, without the owners even being informed.

The right-hand-man of Sheikh Abdul Mohsen, a Saudi named Suliman Ibrahim Al-Dakhial, had allied himself with some of the most powerful "gro pwason" or, "big fish", (the local term for "fat cat") in the country, many of them his personal friends, from the former president, James Alix Michel, down through a network of powerful and influential cabinet ministers, government officials, judges, lawyers and wealthy businessmen and thus began the shameful expropriation, backed by government corruption, which has become known, in Seychelles, as "The Plantation Club Saga".

The case has now dragged on in the Supreme Court of Seychelles for almost fifteen years, becoming one of the longest-running and, certainly by far, the most controversial and scandalous case in the history of the Seychelles judiciary. The international accounting firm, Ernst & Young, was brought in as liquidator, to give the takeover a character of respectability and credibility. Since the beginning of the case, there have been four Court of Appeal cases in parallel with the main case but the original case continues. It has been passed around before seven Supreme Court judges, including three Chief Justices and two Acting Chief Justices as well as the various judges of the Court of Appeal and yet it still seems to be unable to reach its conclusion. Despite the fact that the case would still be in the courts fifteen years later, within a few months of closing down the hotel the Supreme Court of Seychelles had handed ownership of the Plantation Club "on a plate" to the new owner, Sheikh Abdul Mohsen, and the hotel was re-branded as the "Kempinski Seychelles".

In a normal jurisdiction, this would be unheard of. The Seychelles, however, was definitely not a normal jurisdiction. The matters of the case are very simple. They concern the liquidation of one domestic (local) company, with one single asset (a hotel) and, essentially, two secured creditors. In a normal jurisdiction, such a case would have been over in a few months. Apart from the blatant manner in which the hotel was simply taken from its owners, the fact that the case never seems to be able to reach a conclusion would be deemed outrageous by legal observers from the real world. The reasons for all of this are beyond doubt and now revealed by a recent government Commission of Inquiry: unbridled government and judicial corruption. The Seychellois People, used to decades of this, have simply had to bridle their outrage and watch the sordid mess drag on…

In 2012, the lawyer for the Liquidator tried to obtain an order from the court to declare the liquidation concluded and to have the Liquidator, Mr. (Paul) Gerald Lincoln, of Ernst & Young, released from his duties. Mr. Frank Elizabeth, the lawyer for the Plantation Club, objected on the legal grounds that the Liquidator had failed to produce final accounts for the liquidation, as required by law, and asked the court to order him to present his accounts to the court's Official Receiver for auditing, as the Law demanded. Strangely, Judge Bernardin Renaud, a senior and experienced Supreme Court judge, before whom the case had passed, found himself "unable" or "unwilling" to give such an order and the case entered a period of five years where it stagnated, without any progress at all. The company's legal counsel was blocked at every turn, despite strenuous and continued efforts to have the case move forward.

Finally, in late 2017, Dr. Mathilda Twomey was appointed as the new Chief Justice of Seychelles. A forceful and respected figure, highly qualified in both English and French law, she began cleaning up the mess that was the Seychelles Judiciary, which earned her the hostility of most of the lawyers and judges alike. Upon the departure of Judge Renaud from the Supreme Court, the Plantation Club case passed before her and began moving forward again. Chief Justice Twomey immediately ordered the Liquidator to present his final liquidation accounts to the Official Receiver for auditing. After initially resisting the order, the Liquidator and his legal counsel complied and presented his accounts.

On the basis of evidence which came to light, once the Liquidator's accounts had been audited and analysed by the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Twomey requested of the President's Office that a government Commission of Inquiry be set up to investigate what she termed the "concerns raised" regarding "unexplained money received and disbursed by the government through Central Bank in respect of the Plantation Club."

On the 31st of July, 2020, almost one-and-a-half decades after the case began, the successor to James Michel, President Danny Faure, who had never been involved in the Plantation Club scandal, issued a Commission of Inquiry and the extensive corruption and fraud perpetrated in the liquidation has finally come to light, vindicating the accusations made by the owners throughout the long fight to recover their hotel.

During the Inquiry, one senior officer of the Supreme Court involved in the liquidation was asked, privately, why the Plantation Club liquidation was so complicated: "The liquidation is not complicated," he replied, "it's the corruption that is complicated." Sadly, in Seychelles, his response drew only knowing laughter from those present.

In 2020, while the Commission of Inquiry was in progress, the oppressive forty-three-year regime of Albert René finally came to an end when the opposition party won the presidential election for the first time and a new President came to power.

As of January 2022, in the midst of a national crack-down by the Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles, which has resulted in the arrest of several senior former government officials and public figures, regarding corruption stretching back over decades, there has still been no reaction from the Office of the President to the findings published in the Commission of Inquiry's report on the Plantation Club.

… and "The Plantation Club Saga" continues …