Reports in the Singapore media suggesting the Brazil Embassy in Singapore is unaware of the business of social housing developer EcoHouse have been rubbished by the company.
Stories published yesterday claimed the Brazilian Embassy had said that its government had no dealings with the company.
Speaking to PropertyGuru earlier today Deen Bissessar, the Global Chief of Operations for EcoHouse, said: “[This story] is clearly a result of a mis-understanding and/or mis-communication with the embassy, and their resulting search. We are most certainly in compliance for our operations.
“We operate within what can be viewed as the public-private sector of the Minah Casa Minah Vida (My Home, My Life) program which is where we do not utilise government funds to construct, but the end Brazilian buyers are financed by the program to purchase our properties.
“Perhaps this is where the error has been made,” he questioned.
“These articles are obviously painting things in a very poor light. People in Singapore have obviously contacted the embassy not having all the facts and communicating who we are and what we do very poorly. We have had documents on our website from Caixa and other authorities confirming our position and standing,” he concluded.
It has been reported than more than 800 Singaporeans have invested S$46,000 in the social housing projects in Natal, Northeast Brazil, some with the promise of more than 20 percent returns within just one year.
Construction delays have forced some investors who have experienced delayed repayment to consider legal recourse, although until recently EcoHouse claimed it was not in breach of any of its investor contracts.
Indeed one Brazilian government minister spoke to journalists from around the world late last year during one of a number of media trips organised to Natal by the company, suggesting the country gave its full support to EcoHouse and its business.
Image: The Bosque project in Natal pictured during October 2013. Picture (c) by Andrew Batt/PropertyGuru Group.
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
Other EcoHouse stories published by PropertyGuru:
July 7 2014: EcoHouse on MAS Watch List
June 25, 2014: EcoHouse – we will deliver
January 24, 2014: EcoHouse “back on track”
January 9, 2014: EcoHouse plays catch-up, stops selling in Singapore
November 13, 2013: EcoHouse frustrations start to surface
June 10, 2013: EcoHouse refutes get rick quick claims
February 13, 2013 ; EcoHouse attracts S$30m in two days
If you have any comments or observations for publication about your experiences with investing in EcoHouse please email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg