MovieTowne, Port locked battle over admin office access

Senior Reporter

kay-marie.fletcher@guardian.co.tt

Despite a court order in place for both the Trinidad and Tobago Commercial Development Company Limited (TCDC) and the Port-of-Spain Infrastructure Company (POSINCO) detailing how the current operations should go at MovieTowne, Port-of-Spain, it appears neither of the entities are seeing eye to eye.

According to MovieTowne officials, POSINCO continues to breach the court order, while POSINCO maintains it has merely retained its right of re-entry and possession of the premises in accordance with the terms of the deed of lease.

When Guardian Media visited the entertainment complex at Invader’s Bay yesterday, it looked like just another day.

Some people were getting ready to watch a movie, while others were enjoying the restaurants.

But on the first floor of the complex, MovieTowne’s administrative office was heavily guarded by POSINCO security officers, preventing any TCDC officials from entering.

Speaking outside his now locked office, Ryan Chin, son of MovieTowne owner Derek Chin, said it had been four days since they had been locked out of their office and banquet hall.

On Monday, a court order stated POSINCO was not to disrupt the operations of TCDC. But according to Chin, taking control of the office and other spaces was doing just the opposite.

He said to add insult to injury, POSINCO stepped up efforts yesterday, allegedly taking control of even more spaces and damaging property in the process.

Chin said, “This morning I was contacted by our MovieTowne security and informed there was another breach. There were bailiffs and security, I would say sent on instructions from the Port and they were here to change our locks. They breached some of our doors, broke one of my officers’ phones and also damaged one of my doors with forced entry.”

He added, “Our front of the operations need the engine room to function. We have things such as invoices to go out. We have suppliers. We have monthly payments for our staff. All these different things are from these offices that we need to get access to. Sooner or later, those operations are going to falter and that is going to cause further disruption, which is why we’re saying the court order is in support of that and they’re not supposed to interfere with those sorts of things.”

Nevertheless, Chin assured staff that they would be paid.

He also revealed he was seeking legal advice to prevent further interruptions.

In the meantime, MovieTowne has brought in additional security.

“Yes, we have had to heighten security because the pattern of what’s been happening is whatever is being communicated is not actually happening on the ground, so we need to make sure that we are supporting our staff, we are supporting and protecting our tenants and we need to make sure that breaches of these orders are not being done which they are, which is happening almost every day,” Chin said.

Most tenants to pay

TCDC monthly rent

When it comes to another item on the court order, where the judge left it up to tenants to decide if they want to pay their rent to TCDC, POSINCO or the court, Chin maintained rent will be collected as usual, as TCDC is still the landlord.

He said, “We are communicating with them today to give them that reassurance that everything is operating as normal, we are the landlords here still and that all communication support will come from MovieTowne and its executives.”

Tenants also received a letter from TCDC yesterday, which advised them that all future rental payments must be paid in the usual way. They were also advised not to worry about any reprisal from POSINCO.

And in the event POSINCO makes any demands for rent, TCDC told its tenants they are not obliged to pay the port.

When Guardian Media went door-to-door to speak with tenants yesterday, several employees said they had no issue paying their rent to TCDC as per usual.

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