Front Page News:
Breathing Space
The staff and suppliers of the Grupo Playa Sol, headed until recently by the imprisoned Fernando Ferré Cardó, can breathe again after the
temporary administrator, Javier Perelló, was granted the financial backing necessary to pay the group’s debt. There was concern at the
beginning of the week after it became clear the company needed at least €2 million to pay suppliers and cover the wage packets of workers
for the month of May. Ferré’s system was to issue post-dated cheques (pagarés) to suppliers for up to nine months, so the outstanding
money related to goods and services provided in August last year.
In a recent interview with the Diario de Ibiza, the new administrator, pictured right, reiterated that as far as he was concerned
he had done no wrong, and had simply been caught up in a web spun by his boss, from which it had been difficult to recover.
He continued that he had been aware of certain irregularities within the company he joined in 2003, but they were so commonplace
they had soon become the norm.
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Speaking about his boss he claimed that until the early part of this century, he had been very successful,
but that changes within the travel industry and the introduction of the internet had complicated matters. He finished by eulogising that his
boss had lived for his work, and did not have any of the trappings of wealth.
Perelló met with members of the Island Council on Friday to set out his plans for the operation of the hotel group. One of his promises is
that they will only commercialise beds in establishments which are 100 per cent legal and not advertise or use any establishments which are
the subject of official complaints. Those places which cannot be legalised will be closed; the Group has 2,126 beds which are not legally
inscribed in the “Tourist Register”, and fines outstanding of more than €615,000.
The Group will also use two hostels in San Antonio as accommodation for their workforce, (Picaddilly and Royal), where they will be
housed “with dignity”. Under the regime of Ferré, many workers were forced to share dormitories containing up to twelve bunk beds,
with very basic hygiene facilities.
There was some good news for the imprisoned Ferré after the judge agreed to reduce the amount of public debt which had originally
been set at €80 million, but has now been reduced to €30 million. It is unclear what assets will be seized by the court, although Perelló
remains hopeful it will not be necessary to embargo any of the hotels which remain going concerns.
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