THE HAGUE--The Supreme Court in The Hague, the highest court in the Kingdom, has upheld the previous rulings by the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal concerning a licence for a casino at Caravanserai Beach Resort.
In its ruling last Friday, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the hotel and casino company to obtain a licence for the establishment of a casino at the resort in Beacon Hill.
G.N. Entertainment NV (GNE) and Island Hotel Corporation (IHC) NV had launched an injunction in January 2006 against the Governor’s decree to annul the decision made by the Executive Council on September 13, 2005, to grant permission to operate Dunes Casino at Caravanserai Hotel.
GNE and IHC considered the annulment and its motivation erroneous, and asked the Court to render invalid the Governor’s decision of November 11, 2005. But the judge in the Court of First Instance decided otherwise and dismissed the appeal of GNE and IHC against the Governor’s decision.
The Court of Appeal upheld this verdict in April 2006. Like the Court of First Instance, the judges of the Appellate Court were of the opinion that the Executive Council actually had not issued a permit to GNE, but had only made the decision to prepare the process of granting a casino licence.
Parties have been battling over the right to operate a casino in Beacon Hill since the Executive Council, in support of reopening of the resort, promised Millennium Resort or Caravanserai Hotel in 1996 that it would receive a permit to operate a casino on the premises even though the hotel didn’t meet the 200-room requirement as stated in the casino policy of that same year. This policy limits the number of stand-alone casinos to 10. That ceiling had already been reached.
Golden Palm Casino received a permit in August 1999 to operate a casino on the premises of Caravanserai Hotel. Golden Palm and Caravanserai ended their cooperation and in 2004 the Executive Council granted Golden Palm a licence to operate a casino elsewhere on the island.
GNE requested a permit for a casino at Caravanserai in August 2004. The Executive Council decided on September 13, 2005, to grant GNE a licence to operate a casino at Caravanserai, but this decision was annulled by federal decree on November 11, 2005.
Making use of his authority as stated in the Islands Regulation ERNA, Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards sent the Executive Council’s decision to Governor of the Netherlands Antilles Frits Goedgedrag. On the recommendation of Minister of General Affairs and Prime Minister at that time Etienne Ys, Goedgedrag signed the decree of annulment.
The decree mentioned several considerations, including the casino policy of late 1996, the fact that the number of stand-alone casinos had been tied to a maximum of 10 and the fact that Caravanserai Hotel didn’t have more than 200 rooms.
In Friday’s ruling, the Supreme Court did not deviate from the position taken by the lower courts and came also to the conclusion that the Governor’s decree of annulment was not unlawful, as GNE and IHC had contended. |
