Lawsuit Filed over Sand Theft in Jamaica

The Jamaican saga involving the theft this summer of 500 truckloads of prime white sand from a new resort development at Trelawny on the island’s northwest coast has made it to the country’s Supreme Court.

Felicitas Ltd., the 15-member consortium of Jamaican and overseas investors backing the $110 million, 64-acre luxury Coral Springs project, filed an $8.1 million claim in Jamaica’s highest court against three hotels and a contractor/builder, alleging that “the defendants’ servants or agents unlawfully and without consent removed approximately 6,000 cubic yards of sand from property.”

Named in the suit were Spanish-owned properties RIU Jamaicotel, Fiesta Jamaica Ltd. and Palmyra Resort & Spa, plus Bedrock Building and Aggregates Ltd.

Fredrik Moe, managing director at Coral Springs, noted in the claim that “forensic tests support a conclusion that samples of sand taken from the defendant hotels’ properties are very likely to have come from the Coral Springs property.”

At the time of the theft in July, Prime Minister Bruce Golding launched an all-out investigation, including sand sampling from other beaches around the island. The results of the investigation are still pending.

Spanish ambassador to Jamaica, Jesus Silva, has flatly denied any criminal involvement on the part of the hotels. “All the Spanish groups have been most cooperative with the government and the investigation,” he said. “They have nothing to hide.”