Mario Hoffmann

Mr Hoffmann is a wealthy Slovakian businessman

He is, indirectly, the owner of over 90% of Postova Banka, a regulated Slovakian retail bank, and is the Chairman of its supervisory board of directors.

Since 1997 he has been a frequent visitor to the Turks and Caicos Islands, having built a house there and spending 2 to 3 months there every year. - Since 2000 he has been pursuing a project to develop, through a company called DEVCO, an island of particular beauty called Salt Cay. To that end he has steadily acquired land on this island from the Government of TCI. Another Slovakian bank, J & T Banka, is a partner in this project. An important part of the project is the creation of a golf course.

The following facts have not been in dispute in relation to the project. The TCI Government, under the leadership of its premier, the Hon Michael Misick, granted to DEVCO the land on which the golf course was to be built, on a 99 year lease at a “peppercorn” rent. In August 2006 Salt Cay Golf Club was incorporated as the company that would own and run the golf club. 50% of the shares in this company were held by Mr Hoffmann’s Cyprus based holding company. The other 50% were given to a holding company of which Mr Chal Misick, a brother of the Premier, was the owner. In the following year, 2007, the Hon Michael Misick successfully applied to J & T Banka for a loan, made to himself and his wife, of US$ 6 million. Mr Chal Misick provided, and J & T Banka accepted, his 50% shareholding in Salt Cay Golf Club as security for this loan.

Property developer Mario Hoffman said he ‘owned’ Turks and Caicos government

Mario Hoffman pays $238 a year for a 99-year lease on “Crown land” in the Turks and Caicos Islands valued at nearly $8m A European property developer alleged to have links to the criminal underworld boasted that he “owned the government” of a British dependency in the Caribbean, an inquiry has been told.

The Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands and his wife apparently once used an aircraft belonging to Mr. Hoffman to fly to the United States.

Chal  Misick  had  set  up  a Casino  company,  Casablanca  Casinos  Ltd,  in  April  2006,  allocating  shares  in  equal  amounts  to  Washington  Misick,  a  brother  of  the  Hon  Michael  Misick,  and  to  a  man  named  Andy  Stephens,  both  of  whom  became directors.

When  asked  about  the  possible  involvement  of  Mario  Hoffmann  in  the  Casino  operation,  Chal  Misick  said  he  did  not know. Yet Mr  Hoffmann  stated  that  on  a  visit  by  the  Hon  Michael  Misick  to  Bratislava  in  October  2005,  he,  Mr  Hoffmann,  introduced  him  to  Andy  Stephens  who  ran  a  casino there. Mr  Stephens  visited  the  TCI  with  Mr  Hoffmann  and  viewed  the  Casino  site  and  its  former building.

Mario Hoffman is connected to a steel-Magnate named Zoltan Mikoczy, by a horse called Overdose.

As well as being considered the country’s best horse since Kincsem, a champion of the 1880s, Overdose appears to have been credited with entirely reinvigorating the Hungarian racing industry.

''We had to choose a name for him, quickly, beginning with an O after his mother's name. I suggested Osama Bin Laden'' - reports Zoltan Mikoczy. There was a time in the 90s when there was a deliberate attempt to finish off Hungarian racing by the government,

Zoltan Mikoczy, an ethnic Hungarian from Slovakia, would be arrested for fraud in Romania in 2009. Mr. Mikóczy claims he is not guilty.