The Vista Palace has become the Maybourne Riviera since the Qataris bought it. The transformation of this aging hotel in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin into an ultramodern palace will have cost the trifle of 300 million euros. The least we can say is that Sheikh Hamad ben Jassem ben Jaber Al Thani did not skimp on the means. “We just wanted to do something beautiful,” pleads one of his wealth managers while requesting anonymity. This former Prime Minister of Qatar, direct cousin of the Emir, does not like publicity. Missed! Since his personal investment fund set his sights on the Vista-Palace in 2014, the hotel has never ceased to fuel the legal chronicle.
It was first of all the other takeover candidates who were moved to see the Qataris’ offer accepted by the Nice commercial court when it was “out of time” according to them. But the complaint filed with the national financial prosecutor’s office remained a dead letter. Just like most of the proceedings brought by a determined local resident, Annie Durante, who has constantly denounced what she considers to be serious breaches of town planning rules. His last request before the administrative court has been waiting for two years to finally be heard. Never mind, it was a former Roquebrunoise municipal councilor who finally seized the criminal justice system last August, as Nice morning revealed it, on the eve of the kick-off of the World Cup in Qatar.
Preliminary investigation
This time, the Nice prosecutor’s office confirms having “opened a preliminary investigation”. It was he who finally ordered the prefecture to carry out an urban planning control. Last November, more than a year after the inauguration with great fanfare of the Maybourne Riviera, the State services clearly noted a certain number of “non-conformities”. “Surface and opening problems”, advances a source close to the file. Nothing irremediable, however, we are assured on the side of Sheikh Hamad: “We are working in perfect collaboration with the prefecture and everything should be settled within a few weeks.”
The Qatari owner hopes to be able to escape the wrath of Nice justice by filing a “broom license”. His opponents already criticized him for having, a posteriori in 2020, erased previous alleged irregularities according to a simple prior request for work… granted immediately by the town hall of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (1). Despite the rather pharaonic nature of the work undertaken. Because to transform the ex-Vista into a troglodyte palace, it was first necessary to consolidate the rocky peak on which the hotel is placed. By means of 58 anchors of 40 tons of concrete planted in the cliff. “In the heart of the red zone and on a Natura 2000 site”are offended by local residents.
Turf war between associates
But in summary proceedings, the administrative justice found nothing wrong with it. This is enough to reinforce the position of Sheikh Hamad ben Jassem ben Jaber Al Thani. His entourage plays on velvet by pointing out that most of these “objections” have been dismissed in court. And yet, the distant Qatari owner says today that he had a few “surprises” when he regained possession of the palace, once its transformation was completed. He does not hesitate to point the finger at his former business partner, an Irish promoter to whom he had “entrusted the delegated project management” of this vast project. It must be said that the divorce between this one, Paddy McKillen, and Sheik Hamad is well and truly consummated… Even if the financial terms remain to be determined.
This time it is the High Court of London which has been seized to settle the dispute which concerns hundreds of millions of pounds sterling. In Release this Sunday, Paddy McKillen, announced that he was ready to devote up to his “last penny” in this other procedure. Even if the fortune of the Irish promoter is disproportionate to that of the cousin of the Emir of Qatar, the report is this time a little more balanced. In this affair, the local opposition groups have always had the feeling of being “The earthen pot against the iron pot”.
1- Contacted, Patric Cesari, the mayor of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, did not wish to respond to our requests.
2023-07-10 16:25:48
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