Statement Regarding Millennium Centre

[~Legend~]

Government of the United States of Argonath

Re: Millennium Centre
The is a statement issued on behalf of the Government and the Vice City Police Department concerning a state-held property which was recently usurped.

The Millennium Centre was 'seized' by a member of the public, [EAF]Lherekov through support from a group that they are affiliated with. The Millennium Centre serves as Vice City's civilian bureau and serves several key functions, from managing public services (such as the Citizenship and Migration Board in the past and future, when needed) to being of use to the city's law enforcement.

One man (or a group of people) taking control of the building - and putting up a sign saying "FBIHQ seized by EAF" - seems like an act of selfishness and bold defiance against the citizens of Argonath and the state of Vice City. The building should not have been handed over, unlawfully, to anyone other than a government authority. The result of this has led to a number of serious consequences. The events have been outlined below.


Background Information [Non-RP/Semi-RP]

• In early 2011 the skyscraper located in the Business Area of Downtown was purchased by the government for use by law enforcement.
• It had not been previously set as a full property, so the whole building was added for the first time. Especially given that it was set around other commercial centres, rather than make it "free" we thought we'd set a price on it and raise money to buy it in a fully just manner.
• Government funds secured the location and building was put into operation.

• It's operative functions have varied, although all this while it has remained a civilian bureau, essential for law enforcement, government licensing, passports and border control etc.
• A degree of script support exists. Certain state vehicles are parked on location.
•  It is not a 'private' building as it is funded by the government and operated as such. Traditionally, it has been left as a business/administrative centre due to its location. Ownership has remained with the government and the state, there is no individual owner, although in virtue it is an administrative property of President Ronnel and Prime Minister RON.

• For the last 2 years it has had a custodian who simply looked over its operations on behalf of the state. It could have been set as a full government property, without a price attached. However, as said before, the VCPD Command Staff at the time - who the government secured the property for - wished to pay for it with their own personal funds, rather than have it free. Therefore, I believe, it was scripted simply and has not caused any problems. It sticks to tradition and respects the fact that it is in the business hub of the city. It has served a great roleplay purpose. Despite being a fully government property, we left it as it was to maintain its roleplay value and to observe its past.
• Without warning it was "taken over" by the unlawful member of the public already mentioned above, without any reason other than for self gain, possibly out of malevolence.
• A roleplay has been initiated rather than to directly put things right in any other way.


Outline of Recent Events [RP]

In order to better establish the situation government officials made contact with the person in question and organised a meeting with them. At first no signs of wanting to cause harm was exhibited and the full situation was explained to them. However, they did not wish to comply with government requests and wished to proceed with a lawyer present. This lawyer still has not made any attempts to contact us.

Lherekov had been notified that the government would take forceful actions provided that they had no legal rights to hold the property, which in this case is a state building, no less. Gradually there has been a growing suspicion of malcontent, and their actions have resulted in a vital arm of the city's law enforcement being hampered and the state left without a citizen embassy.

More discussions continued and government representatives have requested the person in question to withdraw, in good faith. This is not an act of expropriation on the government's part as the building was purchased directly from the open construction market and already owned by the state and still remains as its asset. All actions taken have been based on constitutional grounds. The government has not given any right for a single individual or group of individuals to brashly seize the building. In any case no government agencies or its benefactors have been compensated or within law been paid for this action.

The building is specially designed for government use and serves some crucial functions, as already noted. The Millennium Centre, if in the wrong hands, could be a major security threat and so has gone into a self-initated process of shutdown, with only the entry floor being open. Much of its internal infrastructure is not accessible during this time, electronic data has been transfered and electricity as well as communication lines have been withdrawn. It is not some extravagant penthouse or any private property at all for that matter and must not be treated as one. The FBI and SWAT teams of the VCPD are currently maintaining a presence and operatives have checked the building to ensure that it has not been compromised.




We had warned that this issue may have to be brought into the public domain, although it was not our wish to. The hope is that this statement has outlined some key information; this has not only become a concern for the government, but the public at large.



Signed,
Legend
VCPD Chief
   p.p. The Heads of State, the Government

[Marcus]

As an ex-chief of the Vice City Police Department, I fully support the VCPD on this.
This building was owned by me, as I was the Chief at that current time, but unfortunately I had to travel to another city for some time, and when I came back, I knew about this..
As a "STATE" building, this must belong to the Government only, not to a "civilian", and further more not to a group of criminals. It isn't supposed to be used as a criminal Headquarters rather than a reunion point to our law enforcement units.
The Millennium Centre's purpose of function was/is to set up a meeting point between the different areas of the Vice City Police Department, and therefor it must be used as one.
Having said that, I'm sure the building's name should be modified, as it insults the civilians' and the government itself of the Vice City district, and its owner should be pre-set to "State", or (and most importantly) to the responsible of the Vice City Police Department, being Legend himself.


Signed,
Marcus

[Marcell]

As a "STATE" building

as claimed by yourselves this was never a true state building, you set it as private building since (assuming your part on the testimony is true) you wanted to pay for it, now you're paying for your mistake, the laws say after the owner of private building is out of town for 3 months his property can be sold.

[Klaus]

There are no official documents saying that the building was run by the Government. As a Government official myself, I can tell you that all ownership papers were signed by Marcus, and was therefore legally owned by Marcus and Marcus only. As he failed to pay his taxes for the past 6-7 months, his properties were re-possessed by the Government. The skyscraper was then open to anyone with the needed funds ($1,000,000) to purchase and renovate as the building still had several damaged floors due to missile attacks by the FBI themselves.

[~Legend~]

as claimed by yourselves this was never a true state building, you set it as private building since (assuming your part on the testimony is true) you wanted to pay for it, now you're paying for your mistake, the laws say after the owner of private building is out of town for 3 months his property can be sold.

Marcus was a guardian/custodian, it was reset without warning.

That, together with the scripted status of the building was more of an administrative issue. It was not newly set, it has been like so for 2-3 years now.

There are no official documents saying that the building was run by the Government. As a Government official myself, I can tell you that all ownership papers were signed by Marcus, and was therefore legally owned by Marcus and Marcus only. As he failed to pay his taxes for the past 6-7 months, his properties were re-possessed by the Government. The skyscraper was then open to anyone with the needed funds ($1,000,000) to purchase and renovate as the building still had several damaged floors due to missile attacks by the FBI themselves.

What is your position as a 'Government official'?

The ownership of the building is the state and therefore it was not taxed, all costs for its upkeep were paid for by the government.
Vice City's authorities can pay for its damage and pay to run its services.

The building was not just of operational use to the police force, but also served as a principal civilian bureau, as already mentioned.

[Klaus]

it was reset without warning.

Wrong. Everyone is aware that if the owner fails to pay taxes for 3 months the property is re-possessed. As Marcus mentioned, he decided to "travel to another city for some time" that time being 6-7 months.

What is your position as a 'Government official'?

You could call me the Mayor, since I handle taxes, properties, identity's (accounts) and Government spending etc etc.

The ownership of the building is the state

Nope, the building has always been set as a private property, and still is hence why it was put up for sale after eviction.

[~Legend~]

The Court probably does not want myself or the government repeating aforementioned points. The script setting of the property (because it had to be newly set in this server) was an administrative issue. The default resources available were used and were no problem for over 2 years and should not have been a problem here; if it was a quick fix would have been all that was required.

A part of discussions had between Lherekov and the VCPD are presented below:




• The marker put up by the building directly suggests a threat to the government and the FBI. It directly opposes a government authority. The building has been invaded and "seized". They have accepted responsibility for their actions thus far.

• The reason for purchase seems without any solid intention other than to provoke the government.

• This, as already said, is not a house of any kind but an administrative building packed with government equipment, which is under lock down and covered in security precautions making it unoperational.

[Kessu]

A civilian does not need intention in owning a private property. Goverment itself has to own the property in order for it to be goverment's. The problem, right here, is that you fail to see that point. Last owner was not around to look out for his property, so it was put for sale, Lherekov here bought it, and he can do whatever he likes with it as long as it does not serve as a threat to the lifes of others. That includes placing a marker such as "FBIHQ seized by EAF". As long as I know, it is not illegal to place markers and / or it might have been someone else putting the marker, only to make Lherekov's life harder.

Thank you.

[~Legend~]

A civilian does not need intention in owning a private property. Goverment itself has to own the property in order for it to be goverment's. The problem, right here, is that you fail to see that point. Last owner was not around to look out for his property, so it was put for sale, Lherekov here bought it, and he can do whatever he likes with it as long as it does not serve as a threat to the lifes of others. That includes placing a marker such as "FBIHQ seized by EAF". As long as I know, it is not illegal to place markers and / or it might have been someone else putting the marker, only to make Lherekov's life harder.

Thank you.

The answers to your questions/points have already been given here or elsewhere.


2 points of view have been shown, it's not up to one of us to say explicitly what's right or what's wrong without looking at the case as a whole. We can't be stubborn and just take one viewpoint without regarding the other.

The main point being pushed forward is that, rather than accusing an individual, the move was unjust or perhaps done without mal intentions, but after a possibly incorrect interpretation of the situation.

[Kessu]

the move was unjust or perhaps done without mal intentions, but after a possibly incorrect interpretation of the situation.

How so? It has been said here and

elsewhere

that the act was done by the book.

[~Legend~]

How so? It has been said here and  that the act was done by the book.

I don't wish to say more on that than I've said here and elswhere, quoting the two of us.


Also, the government was not "refunded" or compensated in any way, I'd like to reiterate. This is not about any monetary losses, principally as the site itself is of invaluable use.

There was no consultation whatsoever regarding this specific subject.

[stormeus]

To the current owners of the Millennium Complex and honorable justices,

While this case is ongoing, it is worth noting that there are still government assets within the building that cannot be collected due to the sealing of the building by its purported owners, backed by their supposed ownership of the building, which is still being contested. Because we have received no notice of its eminent seizure prior to it being transferred to members of the Eighth Avenue Furies, and that the owners have not been cooperative with police efforts, we request that we be granted temporary access to the building to collect our secured files and property, as a security measure against any tampering of police files, which is a state felony.

As such, we request that the owners either directly grant us access temporarily through correspondence in this case, or the court provide an injunction allowing us to retrieve our property.

Appendix
While on the subject matter of this case, we find this seizure of federal property unlawful, if not an unfortunate mishap due to internal government issues. Legally speaking, the fact that there are state-owned vehicles (two FBI Ranchers) allocated to and parked on this property make it a government property. Moreover, the FBI was given no prior notice to its seizure due to its collective ownership amongst leaders of the VCPD and FBI, and gave us no opportunity to retrieve our belongings despite being an active organization. The argument that the property was filed under one person's name is countered by the fact that its ownership was delegated by the "owner," Marcus, to high-ranking police staff, and that its title is effectively under the control of the department, and not by an individual.

As such, the current ownership of the property should be revoked and regranted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, while compensating the owners for the cost of the property on top of any damages, and allowing them to retrieve their belongings. Speaking again on behalf of the FBI, we believe this would be a fair compromise for any troubles incurred to the owners and on us for losing our primary base of operations for an extended duration of time.

Regards,
Stormeus
FBI Station Commander, Vice City

[~Legend~]

For the Court of Vice City's records:

The Special Weapons And Tactics division of the VCPD moved in, together with FBI agents to secure the premises a little after the 'seizure'.

The area has not been treated as private property, but given careful attention and all precautions taken.
As it is, the building is not serviceable by third parties, for lack of a better term.

We have had information of attempted breaches of the security features imposed, however.
A member of the same group, by the name of King tried accessing electronic databases within the Millennium Centre; from what we know, nothing has been tampered with and the attempt was unsuccessful, given that the building is under lockdown.

The building is specially designed for government use and serves some crucial functions, as already noted. The Millennium Centre, if in the wrong hands, could be a major security threat and so has gone into a self-initated process of shutdown, with only the entry floor being open. Much of its internal infrastructure is not accessible during this time, electronic data has been transfered and electricity as well as communication lines have been withdrawn. It is not some extravagant penthouse or any private property at all for that matter and must not be treated as one. The FBI and SWAT teams of the VCPD are currently maintaining a presence and operatives have checked the building to ensure that it has not been compromised.

[Klaus]

Legally speaking, the fact that there are state-owned vehicles (two FBI Ranchers) allocated to and parked on this property make it a government property.

There's no law that states such to be true. If the FBI decided to park a Rancher in someones parking lot, it doesn't mean the property is theirs. I've already stated that the property was never officially government property.

the FBI was given no prior notice to its seizure due to its collective ownership amongst leaders of the VCPD and FBI, and gave us no opportunity to retrieve our belongings

The owner was given notice prior to the property being re-possessed. If the owner had shares that belonged to other people, it was his responsibility to notify them and not that of the government.