CAY HILL:--- The supervisor of Indigo Bay Clive "Papa" Knowles and several other contractors including a sub-contractor that were used to pay the workers were not paid by Indigo Bay owner Steve Kevin Smith.
Clive Knowles who has worked for Smith for several years prior to him starting the Indigo Bay operations in 2006 said that he considered Smith a family friend and he was the one managing the operations at Indigo Bay while Smith is in the USA. At the moment Knowles said that Smith owes him $50,000.00 and besides that while working for Indigo the developer never paid taxes or sickness insurances for workers. He said that earlier this year, Smith told most of the contractors that he will stop the operations at Indigo Bay but he will keep some of the workers he considers family but they will be paid by an agency located on the Pondfill. Knowles said when he got his first salary from the agency (sub-contractor) he noticed his salary decreased substantially and tax and other deductions were also made. He said when he confronted Smith about that Smith reimbursed him saying that was not the arrangement he has with the sub-contractor. Further, Knowles said that he fell ill some three weeks ago and he went to the agency to obtain a doctor card and the owner of the agency told him unless he signs a six month contract he will not be getting the doctor card neither will he be paid. Knowles said he already hired a lawyer because both he and his wife worked for Indigo Bay for a number of years. He further explained that Smith owes several heavy equipment owners huge sums of monies and none of these contractors are able to get their monies from Smith. Another allegation Knowles made was that Smith and the contractors that were hired by Indigo are mostly illegal immigrants that are underpaid and they have no benefits like him and his wife. While Smith told Knowles and the contractors he owes that he is stopping operations, he hired new contractors and the work still continues while they are out in the cold waiting for the monies they are owed.
Knowles said he was in charge of paying all the workers and hiring contractors and many times he has to borrow money or use his own monies to pay the workers because Smith is always late with his payment. Knowles provided SMN News with several receipts books showing how many workers he paid while working for Indigo. Knowles even showed where he was paid $3,000.00 per month. While Knowles showed the receipt books used to pay workers there are no pay-slips with tax and other deductions.
He further explained that on one occasion he borrowed monies from a contractor on the French side to pay the workers and other bills for Indigo Bay until Smith was able to obtain monies to reimburse the person he borrowed the monies from. "One Christmas I had to use my monies to pay the workers because Smith did not send a dime to pay the workers even though he knew it was holidays and the workers have families to feed. Knowles said that he became very close with Smith when they were working at BBW and Smith got very ill and he assisted him with homeopathic medication that cured him. He said ever since then Smith made him feel he was grateful for this remedy but then he ended up calling him a racist and told him he never believed anything he said to him. Knowles said that happened after Smith hired a Caucasian man for him to train and the man had a very bad attitude and he was mostly unhappy because he had to report to a person of color.
SMN News contacted the sub-contractor who admitted that they are representing Indigo Bay and that they too were not paid. The agency representative said that even though the client did not pay or doesn't pay on time the workers are being paid by the agency and the agency does make the necessary deductions which is required by law.
SMN News also contacted Steve Smith for a comment on the allegations made by the contractors and Knowles but Smith said that he will only speak to SMN News with an attorney present. At one point he said he did not owe anyone but later admitted to owning several persons. Smith said if those that he owed submitted an invoice to him he will see if it is approved and then he will pay the people he owes. He also admitted that several illegal workers worked for Indigo Bay but laid the blame on Knowles saying that he is one that hired illegals. Smith said that was the reason he hired a placement agency because he wants to clean things up at Indigo Bay.
SMN News learnt that several immigration officers raided Indigo Bay on Friday afternoon to look for illegal immigrants workers that are on the location working.
