Strange story from the islands: "Guta" invested in "resort for the oligarchs" to $ 30 million, and otszhivaet 2/3 of the costs of the contractor who worked with her six months

"A place where you can sleep, there are coconuts and relax," - compliments the five-star Savoy Hotel Seychelles Resort & Spa on Booking.com one of its guests. In the resource reviews section, no less than 15% of the messages are in Russian. This hotel is not only visitors from Russia, but also owners - the Russians.

Since 2008, "Gute" also owns a four-star hotel Coral Strand located next to the Savoy. Guests praise Coral for excellent views of the Indian Ocean, turtles on the territory, but criticized for the fact that the repair in it "was decades ago".

In 2011, he was bought by the investment group "Guta", Savoy became her second hotel on the islands. After the transaction, "Guta" began restructuring, in order to turn the hotel into a resort for oligarchs with numbers of $ 5,000 per night, Life.ru claimed, citing a source in the group. According to the publication, at the time it was the most ambitious hotel project in the Seychelles, the Russian investor planning to invest in it about $ 30 million renovated hotel under the name Savoy Seychelles Resort & Spa -. With a 163-bedroom accommodation, restaurants, bars, the largest in the Seychelles pool 700 sq.m. and a spa-complex with a Russian steam room, was officially opened in 2014.

It turned out that more than 2/3 of the money invested in him "Guta" is trying to return. Seychelles' Eastern European Engineering Limited (EEEL) - requires Vijay Construction, a local company, to pay € 19 million (about $ 22 million at the exchange rate as of June 27), the "Open Media" database from the London High Court database revealed.

As stated in the judicial, EEEL Seychellois contractor hired in the spring of 2011, but after six months of work prematurely terminated all contracts with him and appealed to the International Court of Arbitration in Paris from claiming compensation for delays and poor quality work. At the time of the commencement of the proceedings, EEEL paid the construction company only € 3 million of the € 20 million stipulated by the contract. Vijay Construction rejected all claims.

In 2014, when the hotel was opened after the reconstruction, which was completed by another contractor, arbitration sided EEEL and agreed to pay her about € 14 million. Media Seychelles explained that a large part of this amount accounted for reimbursement structures "Guty" for the completion of the hotel after the change contractor. EEEL has not received any money so far, the amount taking into account interest has grown to € 19 million.

Vijay Construction tried to challenge the arbitration award in French courts, as well as in the Seychelles. In 2017, the Seychelles Court of Appeals decided not to recognize the jurisdiction of French justice in the commercial dispute between EEEL and Vijay Construction.

After that, EEEL tried to get the sanction of the High Court of London to arrest Vijay Construction's assets around the world, but the court decided to freeze the assets of the company only in the United Kingdom. At the same time, the judge noted that he himself is not sure of the availability of such assets.

Now on the service Pravo.ru group "Guta" is looking for a lawyer who is ready to work in Seychelles. A potential employee should be an expert in the field of international law and in disputes between residents and non-residents of that state.

The press service of the group "Guta" did not respond to the request of "Open Media" about the stories with the Seychelles builders.