Roger Mexico Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 1 hour ago, JessTickle said: I think this is the crux of it. Yes they might have been Chinese staff, working Chinese hours, for a Chinese firm but you would have to wonder why they weren't working from the office of the firm they were working for. I can understand (possibly) if you had a hotel that you couldn't fill and couldn't sell, when someone came along and offered you £500k a year - which is probably more than you would get as "ordinary" tourist accommodation, then you might not look the gift horse in the mouth but there is no way it can't have crossed your mind that this set up was a tad odd. If the hotel was being used by so many as a place of work, would planning permission for change of use not be required? This is post-pandemic remember, according to the BBC this seems to have been in the calendar year 2022. Working from home or wherever was the new normal. And it may be more convenient to work from where you are living if the company operating time is 24 hours (this seems to have applied to the whole business). Where do you get 'lunch' at 2am? So it might be a bit unusual but not completely so. There might be some queries over insurance, but the Seaview's owners may have been told by the company that that had been covered (whether that was true or not). And of course the company would have been seen as established on the Island (from 2017) and the current blue-eyed boys of the government. So it's a little odd to say the hoteliers should have been suspicious when the government weren't. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 2 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said: This is post-pandemic remember, according to the BBC this seems to have been in the calendar year 2022. Working from home or wherever was the new normal. And it may be more convenient to work from where you are living if the company operating time is 24 hours (this seems to have applied to the whole business). Where do you get 'lunch' at 2am? So it might be a bit unusual but not completely so. There might be some queries over insurance, but the Seaview's owners may have been told by the company that that had been covered (whether that was true or not). And of course the company would have been seen as established on the Island (from 2017) and the current blue-eyed boys of the government. So it's a little odd to say the hoteliers should have been suspicious when the government weren't. Quite, and the story may have been that the hotel was only needed until the campus had been built just up the road. It is not beyond the realms that the whole thing was plausible and a welcome respite for the owners. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian333 Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Seems a few people at government offices are talking about this situation. It appears at least one of the top - unpopular - civil servant gate keepers is up to his neck in this with millions of tax payers money handed over to some doggy foreign dealers promising hundreds of new jobs. You can hear the paper shredder working late into the night…. No doubt our Chief Minister will stand by him and protect him from any flack! Lessons learnt lets move on! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Phantom Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 (edited) 37 minutes ago, Andy Onchan said: Ignorantia juris non excusat? If you were a 'reasonable man of business' ala Baines, then yes. If you're you're the owner of boarding house and you're not complicit in any way, then I suspect you'd be ok. Edited August 29 by The Phantom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 (edited) 1 hour ago, Gladys said: Agreed. Look at it from the owners' point of view. They have seen a dwindling tourist trade, followed by Covid and then someone from a licensed business comes along and says they want to take over your premises to house staff. It might be a complete take over or the owners were still to provide some services such as housekeeping. It would be an attractive proposition, particularly if it was a complete take over, no staff to manage or pay. They wouldn't necessarily know that there were banks of PCs set up or that people were working there. The figure above as to how much they were paid, is that based on anything other than an assumption? As for selling the hotel, that probably reinforces that the owners wanted out of the trade, and perhaps they did sell. If they did then they would have even less of an idea as to what was happening on the premises. Of course, they could have been more complicit and knew that there was a business operating (would they know it was a scam business?), but it is plausible that they knew nothing, and were relieved to have been given some breathing space until either tourism revived or they could sell. I did wonder about the change of use, but again did the owners know or was it considered as ancillary to the main use of hotel accommodation? If the funds were transferred from a bank based on the island then wouldn't the owner assume, quite reasonably, that the KYC and AML requirements had been taken care of by the bank? Typical Manx attitude on here (not you Gladys) trying to round on anybody to find a scapegoat to throw blame at. The owner of a rundown hotel I would imagine is one of the last people we should be trying to finger in this whole situation. Until we know more. Edited August 29 by Lxxx 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luker Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 14 minutes ago, Lxxx said: Typical Manx attitude on here (not you Gladys) trying to round on anybody to find a scapegoat to throw blame at. The owner of a rundown hotel I would imagine is one of the last people we should be trying to finger in this whole situation. Until we know more. A typical Manx attitude being displayed on a Manx forum. Who would have guessed? Nobody is accusing them of anything but honestly they claimed that nobody was even vaguely suspicious of the activity going on around them in a hotel packed full of computers and Chinese workers? Really. Unless you're Stevie Wonder you’re probably best saying nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 3 minutes ago, Luker said: A typical Manx attitude being displayed on a Manx forum. Who would have guessed? Nobody is accusing them of anything but honestly they claimed that nobody was even vaguely suspicious of the activity going on around them in a hotel packed full of computers and Chinese workers? Really. Unless you're Stevie Wonder you’re probably best saying nothing. Have the owners of the hotel claimed anything? The BBC report says they tried to contact them and received no response but there was nothing to suggest they knew of what was going on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 1 hour ago, Luker said: A typical Manx attitude being displayed on a Manx forum. Who would have guessed? Nobody is accusing them of anything but honestly they claimed that nobody was even vaguely suspicious of the activity going on around them in a hotel packed full of computers and Chinese workers? Really. Unless you're Stevie Wonder you’re probably best saying nothing. If I was the hotel owner I'd enquire as to who they were and what they were doing, but if the answer to those enquiries was they were connected to the regulated entity with the fancy offices in town (and government blessing to build a larger campus) and if the money was coming from an IoM bank I don't think it would be any of my business to bother any more as long as they paid on time. It's not as if they rocked up in the middle of the night unannounced. They were all here legally with valid immigration documents and their employer wasn't exactly an unknown entity, he was feted by the great and the good and invited into Tynwald no less. 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 4 hours ago, Brian333 said: Seems a few people at government offices are talking about this situation. It appears at least one of the top - unpopular - civil servant gate keepers is up to his neck in this with millions of tax payers money handed over to some doggy foreign dealers promising hundreds of new jobs. You can hear the paper shredder working late into the night…. No doubt our Chief Minister will stand by him and protect him from any flack! Lessons learnt lets move on! Big payoff and pension ahoy then. Nothing to see here, move along.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thefella Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 7 hours ago, Brian333 said: Seems a few people at government offices are talking about this situation. It appears at least one of the top - unpopular - civil servant gate keepers is up to his neck in this with millions of tax payers money handed over to some doggy foreign dealers promising hundreds of new jobs. You can hear the paper shredder working late into the night…. No doubt our Chief Minister will stand by him and protect him from any flack! Lessons learnt let’s move on! Assume you mean LW. Hated is an understatement they’ll be having a party if it sees that arrogant prick off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Phantom Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 40 minutes ago, Thefella said: Assume you mean LW. Hated is an understatement they’ll be having a party if it sees that arrogant prick off. But he's smugly in charge of the AI Biosphere! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thefella Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 2 hours ago, The Phantom said: But he's smugly in charge of the AI Biosphere! A massive tosser who has around 80% of his own department sat with their fingers crossed hoping that this is the event that finally sees him off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesypeas Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 39 minutes ago, Thefella said: A massive tosser who has around 80% of his own department sat with their fingers crossed hoping that this is the event that finally sees him off. He interviewed my daughter. She literally came out in tears. An absolute tw*t of a man. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 9 hours ago, cheesypeas said: He interviewed my daughter. She literally came out in tears. An absolute tw*t of a man. sounds like little dick syndrome working overtime on his part 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thefella Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 9 hours ago, cheesypeas said: He interviewed my daughter. She literally came out in tears. An absolute tw*t of a man. So many PAs and support staff left due to behaviors. As Brian333 suggests above everyone’s watching and waiting and hoping this finally sees the total asshole off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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