Following our article last week about the Coral Strand Hotel this newspaper has received more information from a former partner now living outside of Seychelles. “I wish to add to your article dated 25 July 2008 on the Coral Strand Hotel. The affair is even more oblique than your report would suggest”.
Three years ago in August 2005, Mr. Joe Chung Faye purchased the British Airways’ 35% stake in the Coral Strand Hotel.
The new shareholders therefore were:
J. Chung-Faye 35%
Mrs Langer 33%
Mr Langer 30%
Mr Manfred Henkelein 02%
100%
Sometime last year, Mr Langer was made Persona Non Grata in Seychelles and with his wife, sold their 63% shares to the Russian Group. Subsequently, Mr Henkelein also sold out his 2% holding. At about the same time, it is alleged that a forgery suggesting that Joe Chung-Faye had also sold his 35% shares to a Ms Natalie Lefevre, a person Mr. Chung-Faye said he had never met, when contacted by this newspaper for his comments. So far the case is yet to be heard in court. We will keep you abreast of the ongoing saga. Watch this space….
Our photographer has taken the opportunity to pay a visit to the newly refurbished Coral Strand Hotel to bring you some pictures of what really have been renovated or not at the hotel. The pictures clearly show that far from what has been stated in the local media, the hotel is still in a poor state well below the high standard set by the government. There are food stored in carton boxes on the floor in the kitchen, chipped tiles at the entrance of the rooms, bare untiled concrete floor, rubbish everywhere in the car park, dirty water pool around the grounds of the hotel and damaged walls. Although we did not get photographs inside the rooms, it is still a mystery how a hotel in this state can receive a licence to operate. It is to be remembered that Plantation Club Hotel was closed down for much less. What is good for the goose is definitely not good for the gander in this case! You can judge for yourself how or why the hotel got their licence back.
