Praia, Nov. 19, 2024 (Lusa) – The Cabo Verdean government has declared that Macau Legend Development (MLD) has ‘flagrantly and repeatedly’ violated its obligations in a tourism and gambling investment in Praia, justifying its rescission and cancellation.
"Given that MLD has flagrantly and repeatedly violated its obligations (...) the State of Cabo Verde has no choice but to terminate the contracts," reads a Cabinet decision published on Monday, on the €250 million investment, announced 10 years ago but never completed.
"The State of Cabo Verde gave the MLD companies [in Cabo Verde] every opportunity to resume work or to negotiate the sale of shares or the transfer of their contractual position to a potential party interested in continuing the project," but no alternatives were presented, it added.
According to the executive, "the contractual violations perpetrated by MLD took place at various levels", giving the State of Cabo Verde, the "injured party", the right "to terminate the Establishment Convention, as well as the contracts derived from it", details the text signed by the prime minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva.
The Cabinet resolution was published in the Official Bulletin, along with the order from the Ministry of Finance and Business Development that determines the reversion of the assets transferred and built.
According to the executive, MLD ‘also violated’ the legal regime for the operation of gambling, "by transferring, without authorisation from the Government of Cabo Verde, ownership of more than 20% of the share capital".
The government also cites ‘convictions, by the courts of the Macau Special Administrative Region, of shareholders, directors and other individuals with rights and responsibilities in MLD", as well as "the economic and financial situation of the parent company".
On 28 August this year, Cabo Verde notified the Macau company of its intention to terminate all contracts, which, on 16 September, was justified (at a prior hearing) by the Covid-19 pandemic to deny "culpable breach of obligations".
"However, this plea cannot stand because Covid-19 ended in 2021 and, to this day, the works are at a standstill with no scheduled resumption date," added the Cabo Verdean Cabinet resolution.
In 2015, Macanese businessman David Chow signed an agreement with the Cabo Verdean government to build the development and the foundation stone was laid in February 2016.
In recent years, there have only been guards at the gates of the site, an area of around 160,000 square metres, which includes the partially cleared islet of Santa Maria and a paved bridge of a few metres that connects it to a building of around eight storeys, empty and fenced off.
About a year ago, in an interview with Hong Kong's TVB, MLD's chairman and CEO Li Chu Kwan said that the group intended to close the projects in Cabo Verde and Cambodia by 2025.
At the time, the Cabo Verdean prime minister said that it was necessary to reverse the concession, before deciding "what to do with this investment, which cannot remain as it is," he concluded.
LFO/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
