What A Tangled Web

n
the 5th December 2002 Terry Painter gave a presentation to TDC
extolling the virtues of the developer Shaun Patrick Keegan. His words
“He's our Project (and) Director of SFP Venture Partners Limited, which
is  the project arm of the investors in  the SFP Private Bank of Geneva”

So
that would imply he works for SFP Venture Partners Limited and they
manage projects for the Investors in SFP Private Bank of Geneva. His
business card and director statements say he is a financial adviser.

So far so good.

So who are SFP private bank of Geneva, on the 5th
December 2002 they were not a bank but instead a stockbrokers who
didn’t gain a banking licence until January 2003. (Mr Painter was a
touch forward but then he is an estate agent). After gaining a banking
licence they became Societe Banque Privee (SBP).

In 2000 Colin Hill held a 7.69% stake in SFP, and by 2006 this had increased to 13.8% of SBP.

So what about SFP Venture Partners I hear you say, well the explanation for this comes from a letter written to TDC on 16th September 2008 by SBP:

“On the request of ONE
of our clients as well at the request of Mr. Shaun Keegan, We are
pleased to confirm to you that SFP Venture Partners Ltd is owned 100% by SFP Services Limited”.

By
reference to the published accounts of SBP it states that the General
Manager of SFP Services Ltd is none other than Colin Hill.

So
to clarify we have a self-made property developer, who doesn’t like
football but likes land, running a Swiss company that owns the project
arm of a Swiss Bank where he has a 13% stake. He puts his Father in Law
(Financial adviser) in charge despite no apparent development skills.

KEEGAN "DEMANDS" £5 MILLION?

SFP Ventures (UK) Ltd trying to “extract” £5M from Thanet ratepayers?

TDC
have said for some time that if they try to reclaim the site it would
cost them upwards of £5M to extract themselves from their contract with
SFP Ventures (UK) LTD, the Pleasurama developers.

Ratepayers of Thanet want answers to the following questions:

TDC can you explain how pulling out would cost us £5M?

Can the ratepayers see the breakdown of how you arrive at this figure?

Who told you it would cost £5M?

Have you sought proper legal advice?

The only expenditure I can find is the following:

£1m is a deposit

Item	Narrative	Cost	Evidence
Lease	3X 199 years	£550000	Dr Sue McGonigal
Deposit	Refundable to SFP	£1000000	Dr Sue McGonigal
Cliff repairs	Contribution	£100000	TDC & Painter
Roadworks and Storm drain	KCC Highways	£600000	Painter to BBC
Planning application	FRC Frewster	£22000	TDC
Total		£2272000

Making an Easy £5 Million

n the words of a great comedian “I wanna tell you a story”

It
is the story of sharp practices, secret meetings, misinformation, and
keeping Councillors in the dark. No this isn’t Thanet but Peterborough
where Shaun Patrick Keegan got involved in buying a football club.

Briefly
Peter Boizot, the founder of Pizza Express, decided he needed a knight
in shining armour to come and rescue Peterborough United Football Club.

Barry
Fry, manager of the club, recommended his mate Colin Hill (Shaun
Keegan’s son-in-law) to Peter. Colin being a self made millionaire
property dealer and owner of Wetmore Foundation, registered in
Lichtenstein, was obviously the right man for the job. In Barry Fry’s
own words “Colin Hill is a SHREWD businessman with no interest in football”.

Big mistake!!!

Was
it because there was plenty of land to build houses? I doubt it but it
might have been the original intention however Wetmore’s (Colin Hill)
solicitor would have pointed out the Restrictive Covenant 1 (see below)
at the time of purchase.

Could
it be they wanted to hold the Council to ransom? Maybe because there
was a further Restrictive Covenant 2 which should have allowed the
council a six month window in which to buy the football club and land
attached to it.

Wetmore (Colin Hill) bought the club on the 29th
April 2003 (start of six month window) and transferred the land to a
holding company in November 2003. During this six months there was a
private meeting with the Council Leader (10th
October) and 4 days later the offer to buy was declined by the Council
(leader). There were NO public consultations nor were there any
discussions in Council. The transfer to the holding company took place
in November 2003. Shaun Keegan resigned his directorship of the football
club and became a director of the holding company at the same time.

Eventually Peterborough Council, on the 29th
June 2010, come to their senses and bought back the land from Shaun
Keegan for the sum of £8M netting Colin Hill and Shaun Keegan at least
£5M profit for sitting on the land and doing nothing.

Sharp business practice or amoral behavior I will let the reader decide

Covenant 1:

Stated the land could only be used for football, athletics or sports ground not housing.

Covenant 2:

“If....the
Purchasers (PUFC Ltd) shall desire to sell the property comprised
herein......The Vendors (PCC) shall have the option of repurchasing the
same in manner and on the terms following.....the purchasers shall make
an offer IN WRITING to sell the property aforesaid....”  and that PCC
should be allowed 6 months to make an offer.

Abbreviations

PCC (Peterborough Council)

PUFC (Peterborough United Football club)

In the Beginning

In their wisdom Thanet District Council decided in late 2002 to market the former Pleasurama site.

They
had just succeeded in wresting back the site from the late Jimmy Godden
after a contentious Court battle and now had the chance to do something
for the people of Ramsgate.

What they then proceeded to do next is so serious it could almost be funny if it was happening to another Council.

In 2002 they released a document called snappily “The Ramsgate Renaissance Commercial Development Opportunity”.

This
was a well written plan for the revival of Ramsgate Main Sands which
they then proceeded to completely ignore in the choosing of their
preferred partner to develop Pleasurama.

This
chosen partner was SFP Venture Partners (alleged to be registered in
the British Virgin Islands) and headed by the mysterious Shaun Patrick
Keegan.

What do we know about this alleged developer SFP Ventures (UK) LTD?

Firstly,
according to an email from the TDC’s legal adviser, they hold no
relevant detail. In other words absolutely nothing useful should they
need to take the site back.

No
useful information beyond their current shell company’s registered
address, currently their accountant’s offices in Billericay, ESSEX. On
their headed notepaper they also
use the address BROOKE PARK, HEATH ROAD, LOWESTOFT, SUFFOLK, NR33 9LZ
the site office of which confirmed all their mail is forwarded on by the
office manager.

So nothing useful there!!!

What about Shaun Patrick KEEGAN himself?

No passport or driving licence details proving he is actually Shaun Keegan?

No Utility bill or similar showing where he lives? (Essential if TDC take the legal route)

So
we have a mysterious developer who doesn’t seem to live anywhere?  And
what about any business dealings he has been involved in? More later!!!

What Ramsgate residents want to know is:

Why this Plan?

Why this Developer?

What happens when you finally see sense and try to get this site back?