Archie Lee has multimillion dollar debt with Alliance Bank
It is two weeks since Archie Lee’s Shopping City Convenience Store and Restaurant on Central American Boulevard have been closed for business. Today reports surfaced that Lee is up to his neck in debt to the Alliance Bank which is taking him to court. It is claimed that Lee owes four million three hundred and twenty-seven thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine dollars and fifty-two cents to the bank. News Five spoke with Lee in the presence of his Lawyer, Dickie Bradley, who expressed that his debt and CitCo not renewing his license are two separate matters, one of which is private and the only correlation is that because he is losing money, he cannot afford to pay his over four million dollar debt.
Duane Moody
“You used this issue with you and the renewal of your license from CitCo to mask this issue that you have at hand. Could you expound on that for me please sir?”
Archie Lee, Businessman
“That’s not true. They are two different things. Yes, I acknowledge I owe the bank the money, but the closing of my business because of the continuous harassment from the City Council.”
Duane Moody
“But sir, is this reason with CitCo, this thing, actually what is causing you to lose business and in entirety not being able to pay your loan.”
Archie Lee
“That’s correct.”
Dickie Bradley, Attorney for Archie Lee
“I think what has happened is that Mr. Archie has been at pains to explain that one thing the Alliance Bank has very little to do with what has transpired at his business. We have seen the document assuming that it is accurate, you have shown us a photocopy, that it is dated February of this year that the bank would have notified Mr. Lee that we are trying to see if we can collect our money. That is just February of this year but Mr. Lee is explaining to you, and I think how many times you have gone to the City Council courts?”
Archie Lee
“Fifty-two times.”
Dickie Bradley
“Fifty-two times over more than a year and a half. He has put up with continuous harassment, he has gone through the embarrassment, he’s explained to you the customers are treated a kind of way. So really we’re saying that this is a new judgment that has just happened in February, Mr. Lee has been working with the bank and the fact that he has not filed a defense and they have said well, you have not answered our request and we have gone ahead and we have asked the court to make a decision. That is a totally separate matter; that is a new matter. Mr. Lee has put forward a number of collateral to the bank and they are working out something there but that has nothing to do with what his business has suffered.”
Delahnie Bain
“You’re saying that before the City Council started harassing you with your license and everything, your loan was paid up to date?”
Archie Lee
“Yes, I would say that. I would say that. Since U.D.P. take over the City Council Office, every weekend, every weekend. Right now they try to change the eyesight of the people. They say the labour object, they say the police object, I tell you something they a hundred percent lie. It is politics especially right now that March election is close. That is why they want to put me on the headlines. They want to use me as an example to my country people and then if they don’t do what they ask them to do then they get punished like me.”
Lee says that CitCo is currently offering him a license to operate only up to nine p.m. But he refused the offer since his business has been opened for longer hours during the past fifteen years. The debt to the bank, according to Lee, is for a loan for the building on Central American Boulevard.
