This article summarizes a more comprehensive description of the situation, which can be downloaded as a PDF at the end of the article. 

 
Table of contents

1 Introduction and objective of the document
2 Legal description of the situation  
3 Description of the economic situation
4 Description of the mental situation
4.1 Internal relationship
4.2 External impact
4.3 Emotional level
5 Conclusion:
6 Principles for a way out of the crisis 

 

1 Introduction and objectives

The company Reljuv S.A. operates a settlement project near the two towns of Maciel and Caazapá under the postal address: 

RELJUV SA (El Paraíso Verde) 
Colonia Riachuelo
060101 Maciel, Caazapá 
PARAGUAY

A housing development project with the marketing name “El Paraiso Verde”. 

The entire project, the company Reljuv S.A. and with it all the investors concerned, are in an existential crisis economically, legally and also in terms of coexistence. Whether a successful and long-term sustainable way out of this crisis can be found depends on the following factors

1.     Will it be possible, despite the confusing information situation and the attempts by those involved to cover up the situation, to carry out as precise, comprehensive and unsparing an analysis of the situation as possible that takes no account of the sensitivities of those responsible? 
2.     Can the existing practices, beliefs, procedures, structures, etc. that have led to the current crisis be corrected or transformed and geared towards a successful future in such a way that an attractive living environment can be created for the people already living here, but especially for newcomers? 
3.     Will it be possible to muster the skills, willpower and financial resources required to implement the necessary restructuring? 

 

2 Legal description of the situation

The business relationship between Reljuv S.A. and the investors who have invested in this settlement area is based on various contracts or signed documents, which the investors in particular considered to be legally binding contracts when they signed them: 

•     Purchase contracts (Contratos Privados) for land or apartments
•     Usage contracts
•     Contracts for the issue of preference shares with a guaranteed dividend of 8% of the capital invested per year
•     Contracts for the sale of investment packages in the form of so-called investment properties. These investment properties may not be contractually used or modified in any way by the investors. Reljuv S.A. undertakes to repay the amount paid in to the investors after 2 years plus a return of 13% interest.
•     Contracts for the sale of investment packages in the form of so-called CashCow participations, which include a one-off dividend of 12% per year but no fixed repurchase agreement.
•     Non-contractual payments into a customer account against a receipt, which were made purely on the basis of trust in the honesty of Reljuv S.A.
•     Condominium agreement signed unilaterally only by the investors and thus representing a voluntary commitment to abide by certain rules of cohabitation and payment obligations to Reljuv S.A.. 
•     A reglamento that had to be filed with the Catastro Publico Paraguay when the project was registered as Barrio Cerrade and is implicitly part of the title deed. Unfortunately, it was not presented to the signatories during the transfer of ownership, or only very reluctantly and upon request.

 

Owners (with horizontal title) or holders (without title) of real estate are

• Investors from abroad
• Reljuv S.A. (100% owned by the Annau family)
• the company Constructora S.A. (100% owned by the Annau family)
• the Annau family

 

2.1 Transfers of ownership from the Reljuv S.A. portfolio

The Board of Directors of Reljuv has transferred ownership of land both to the private ownership of the Annau family and to the ownership of Constructora S.A., a company founded by the Annau family. Whether the withdrawal of capital from a company that is de facto insolvent vis-à-vis its investors complies with Paraguayan law must be decided in court. 

 

2.2 Old administration, new administration

Under the old administration are the board members

•     Sylvia Annau
•   Dr. Erwin Annau
•     (Dr.) Juan Buker (Chairman of the Executive Board)

are to be understood. The new administration includes the Board members 

•     Sylvia Annau
•     Dr. Erwin Annau (Chairman of the Executive Board)

are to be understood. In October 2023, Juan Buker, who had been acting as Chairman of the Management Board until then, left the company. 
When the new administration was asked how this situation could have arisen so suddenly, investors were informed that there was a division of responsibilities within the Executive Board. The Annau family was only responsible for the external representation of the project, marketing and sales. The entire operational business, i.e. the use of the investor funds raised through the sale, would have been the responsibility of the former CEO Juan Buker. 

The detailed description of the situation explains why many investors have difficulties with this reasoning. 

 

 

2.4 Charges against the company Reljuv S.A.

Numerous charges have been filed against Reljuv S.A. and its former and current board members. The lawyers involved have publicly criticized the inaction of the public prosecutor's office. All defendants consider the allegations to be unfounded. 
Reljuv S.A. has itself filed its own charges against Mr. Buker and other former employees of Reljuv S.A. or their family members for embezzlement. These accusations are also rejected by Mr. Buker as unfounded. 
According to the new administration, these legal matters are associated with considerable costs, although no charges have yet been brought. No information is provided on the amount and nature of the costs.

 

3 Description of the economic situation

 

3.1 Economic situation of Reljuv S.A. 

Reljuv's main line of business is the development of the settlement area and the sale of upgraded properties. Other economic activities such as house building, hotel operations, services, agriculture, etc. were either loss-making and were discontinued by the new administration or do not contribute significantly to the company's income. Only the sale of land can certainly be considered a profitable activity. 
In view of these facts, it is highly doubtful that Reljuv has ever really generated a dividend. Rather, it must be assumed that the money collected as an investment was not used exclusively for investments that generate a return, but also for the payment of dividends from previous investments or the repayment of investment properties.
The new administration was and is confronted with numerous legacy issues for which the old administration was responsible:

•   Unpaid invoices and wages 
•   Unpaid social security contributions
•   Unprocessed Cedula procedures
•   Improperly constructed infrastructure (dam, wells and water pipes, electricity grid, roads, etc.)
•   Non-transparent accounting
•   No cost center structure at all, which would enable meaningful corporate management in the first place
•   etc.

The new administration has tried to put the company on a more solid economic footing, partly in paid but often also unpaid cooperation with investors. Most investors are unaware of the individual measures taken and their success. Only the investors involved have an insight according to the degree of their cooperation. These investors are very committed and, from their point of view, do valuable work in the interests of the community and the project, thus helping Reljuv S.A. to maintain operations at all. In any case, there are many investors who show selfless commitment in many different ways (by looking after people on the investors' trip, helping with the inventory, bookkeeping, etc.).

 

3.2 Economic situation of the investors

Reljuv S.A., the previous operator of the settlement project, has, according to its own statements, accumulated liabilities to investors of around 20-30 million euros under the previous administration. An exact picture of the financial situation has so far been withheld from the creditors. Due to the unpaid dividends and the unpaid pension property interest, the liabilities are also likely to increase continuously. To date, Reljuv S.A. has not provided its creditors with adequate transparency as to the exact financial situation of the company. Only the refusal to 

•     due repayments of pension fund deposits
•     dividends for preference shares, 
•     or at least to complete the construction of the houses for which the full amount of money has already been made available by the investors

indicates that the financial situation is not good for Reljuv S.A. and that it is insolvent with regard to these payment obligations to the investors. 
Depending on the personal situation of the members of the community of owners, this leads to varying degrees of financial incapacity to act: 

•     Investors who have invested their entire capital in Reljuv S.A. are virtually unable to act
•     Investors who have only invested more or less of their capital in Reljuv S.A. are financially capable of acting, but make further investments dependent on conditions to be fulfilled by the debtor Reljuv S.A.
•     Investors who have only purchased land with or without a house and have not invested any further funds in Reljuv S.A. are in principle able to act

 

4 Description of the mental situation

4.1 Internal relationship 

The confidence of most investors, regardless of whether they live here or have already left the EPV, in Reljuv's ability to manage the situation can be classified as very low. Only a small number of investors express their full confidence and support Reljuv in implementing the measures it has decided to take to improve the situation, i.e. in particular to increase income through new land sales, but also to optimize operational processes. 
The relationship between these investors who trust Reljuv and the company itself as a group and the other investors, who are skeptical or critical to varying degrees, is deeply divided. Quite normal discussions continue to take place between representatives of both positions at a private level, including on contentious issues, in which it is basically clear that both sides are pursuing the goal of emerging from the crisis, but have different views on how this can be achieved. 
One of the main points of criticism from critics, for example, is that the transparency that has often been publicly announced is not actually being achieved.
The investors' main criticism of Reljuv concerns the following key aspects: 

•  One-sided, above all economic advantage-taking through non-transparent contractual arrangements and a large discrepancy between promised and delivered services. This suspicion put forward by many investors is all the more serious because the central advertising argument for settling here was the idea of community. If the associated willingness to pay extremely high land prices is now being abused under the guise of community spirit in order to gain one-sided material advantages, this may be legally questionable. On a spiritual level, the damage caused is likely to be far greater.
• The investors were promised a high quality of the installed infrastructure far beyond the Paraguayan standard. In return, they were prepared to pay extremely high prices for the developed land and the even higher connection fees of 12,000,000 or 16,000,000 guarani to the supply networks. The infrastructure that is now in need of renovation does not meet these expectations. 
• Subjective arbitrariness in the assessment of behavior with regard to the principles of life defined in the condominium agreement. If the grounds for exclusion in the Condominium Agreement are applied to the Reljuv company (e.g. grossly negligent financial damage to settlers), it would have to be excluded according to the exclusion criteria of the Condominium Agreement. The sometimes unlawful removal of settlers from the settlement area and, above all, the practice of unfounded insinuations used in this context has contributed significantly to the project's poor reputation, particularly among the German-speaking public. 

As the obligations as a member of the community of owners also result in financial expenses, the investors' financial relationships with Reljuv and in particular their development after the payment difficulties became known are of great relevance for the relationship of trust, which is why this has been discussed in more detail here. 
The high need for renovation and repair of the infrastructure installed by Reljuv S.A. (dam, roads, electricity grid, water network) will require considerable expenditure on the part of the community of owners. The ability and willingness of the creditors to provide additional funds to bring an overpriced infrastructure that is in need of renovation after just a few years into a condition that meets the requirements varies greatly within the community of owners. 
A large part of the money collected is probably spent on the oversized but one-sided security service anyway, which is partly used for the private security of the Annau family even within the estate.  This security service has not been able to prevent the numerous small thefts of tools and materials in the past, nor the largest theft in the company's history. Quite the opposite. Investor funds amounting to several million euros were removed from the company by the CEO under the protection of this very security service and handed over to the various recipients. 

 

4.2 External impact

One of the main points of contention between Reljuv and its fully supporting investors on the one hand and the other investors, who are far outnumbered, on the other, is the assessment and improvement of the reputation of this project, Reljuv and its board members in the public eye. 

To date, Reljuv has been solely responsible for the public presentation of the project. The new administration and its supporters feel that the publications by investors who feel they have been deceived and robbed of their assets, and who express this to varying degrees on social media, are damaging to their reputation. It expresses its incomprehension about the fact that creditors are referred to as “kamikaze investors” who deliberately or condonedly cause damage to the project. In the argumentation, public criticism of the company or the members of the Management Board is often conflated with criticism of the project or even the people who live here. This insinuation, which from the critics' point of view is not true at all, because in many cases they are quite clearly in favor of the original intention behind the project and even more so in the interests of the people living here, leads to further annoyance on the part of the critics. In most cases, the criticism is directed against the company and its board and not against the project and the people who live here.

 

4.3 Emotional level

The effects on a mental and emotional level are an essential key to adequately assessing the current situation and understanding it at a deeper level.
In recent years, there has been a massive misuse of human energy in various forms.
This abuse relates to 

•    Dreams, visions, expectations and hopes,
•    commitment (time, energy, emotions)
•    Energy in the form of lifetime achievements (money saved and earned over a long period, resources)
•    Participation in community issues   
•    Willingness to help
•    And above all: human trust.

After the traumas in the countries of origin during the Corona period, which primarily led to emigration in the first large “wave” of settlers due to fears of control, existence or the future, the accompanying shocks, upheavals and insecurities, new traumas were now added, which arose from the sudden, next completely unexpected shock, dispossession and existential fear. Many settlers hoped for security and stability (health, emotional, social, family, financial) based on promises and advertising and were confronted with the opposite without even having come to terms with the coronavirus period.
“We are all in the same boat”. With this manipulative formulation, settlers should feel responsible and jubilantly submit to the “crisis management measures” prescribed by the new administration.  This is because the new administration, in an autocratic manner, only accepts as effective in overcoming the crisis what it itself considers to be right and any other opinion will continue to be rejected by itself or some of its supporters.

•     with abstruse insinuations of an externally financed, hostile takeover of the project
•     as allegedly punishable damage to reputation
•     as a self-destructive (keyword: kamikaze investor) defamation of the founders
•     or by means of other attributions that are completely out of place for a debtor vis-à-vis the creditors and in no way do justice to its own responsibility for the misery
      as hostile in any case.

Instead of opening up the space for healing, clarification and strengthening in order to then find a path to a solution, essential steps in emotional crisis management were skipped over coldly. Energy that is no longer available is supposed to be mobilized and used. If this does not happen, you are pilloried as “antisocial”, “stupid”, “selfish”, “irresponsible” or “weak”.
If the aim is for as many people as possible to be involved in overcoming the crisis in a healthy way (because there is no other way), these traumas must be expressed, acknowledged and integrated into their own lives as justified (because they are justified). So before these people can even begin to face the challenges ahead of them, a certain “healing” of these traumas must have taken place or at least be in prospect. 
It doesn't help if people are accused of having a “victim mentality” or a “hostile attitude”. If this accusation then comes from those responsible or their apologists with the threat of consequences (e.g. exclusion from the community), this communicative violence immediately creates new traumas, because not everyone is so hardened that they can simply let it roll off their backs and not identify with it.

The upcoming self-administration of the community of owners, regardless of whether it is to be imposed by Reljuv or tackled by the settlers themselves, places high demands on the people involved. When deciding to invest in this project, very few people would have imagined that they would find themselves in a situation that suddenly demands the skills that self-administration requires, but which not everyone has. This kind of excessive demand may possibly lead to the next trauma, especially if the previous one has not yet been sufficiently overcome. 
In Greek, crisis means opportunity and danger at the same time, and a large proportion of the settlers are basically prepared to actively participate in overcoming the crisis on the basis of this view. However, this presupposes a prior cleansing of claims to sole control and an unconditional transparency and sufficient appreciation of the realities on all ontological levels, be they technical and financial, i.e. material issues, or emotional, spiritual and mental aspects. 

5    Fazit: 
In summary, the previous management structure, used to try to develop the project has led to the following problems:

•    High need for infrastructure renovation
•    Misallocation of investor funds in an unknown but significant amount (approx. 20-30 million euros)
•    High migration rate, approx. 90% of investors have left the project
•    High need for financing to expand the infrastructure because the project was geographically too large from the start, instead of allowing it to expand gradually, as is usual with such projects.
•    Trust within the prospective community of owners has been shattered
•    The public reputation of the project has been severely damaged.
•    The board members are clearly exhausted due to procrastination, the inability to delegate and the unrealistic claim to have a say in everything
•    According to the family, the alleged fraud at various levels was a result of them being overwhelmed, as they were de facto no longer able to carry out adequate control.
•    Risky, inadequately secured investments and interference in the 2022/2023 presidential election campaign are likely to have caused considerable financial damage that cannot be attributed to the old administration. According to Dr. Erwin Annau's own statements at several investor meetings, the interference in the election campaign was a demand or request made by the founders to the then CEO, Dr. Juan Buker, who first had to be persuaded to do so.

This management structure can therefore be considered unsuitable for the tasks at hand. 

 

Reljuv S.A. is continuously causing financial damage to the creditors because

•    Outstanding repayments, sometimes amounting to millions (Euros), are not made
•    Creditors have to pay a significant amount of rent for longer because houses have not been built
•    Other investments that actually generate returns have to be liquidated in order to either finish the house or earn a living Situation description Page 16 / 22 
•    Changes in the planned lifestyle require additional costs.

This must be made very clear, despite the need for cooperation. According to current assessments, the ability of several members of the community of owners to contribute financially to the maintenance of the common areas and the infrastructure installed there depends on the ability of Reljuv S.A. to meet its financial obligations to its creditors, at least on a deferred basis.
Reljuv S.A. has therefore to commit to all financial obligations of each creditor arising from membership in the community of owners until the creditor is no longer a creditor, i.e. all payments to which he is entitled have been paid out or used up or the creditor has found another mutually acceptable solution with the debtor.
The costs charged for the maintenance of the common property must be made completely transparent, and in line with market conditions, so that unrealistic maintenance costs are not arbitrarily set. 
On sober inspection, both sides, Reljuv S.A. and the investors, completely underestimated the difficulties and risks associated with such a project.
Even for experienced developers, a project of this size involves enormous risks. When laypeople in this field start a project of this size, bad decisions are almost inevitable. The grossly negligent promise of a guaranteed dividend by the company Reljuv S.A. and the gullible expectation of such a dividend by the investors contributed to the financial difficulties.
The investors only exposed their own money, which they had saved up over decades, to this risk without conducting due diligence appropriate to the investment amount. However, the company Reljuv S.A. raised other people's money knowing about these risks and then did not use it in the way promised.
This is a fundamental difference and, given the operator's knowledge advantage on site, unforgivable. 

 

6    Principals for a way out of the crisis

It should be noted that the proposed solution refers exclusively to the community of owners of the Barrio Cerrado, which in the context of the project is called Sector B. All other properties (Sector A) and the facilities installed on them are not the subject of these considerations. 
Reljuv S.A. and its creditors are jointly faced with the task of solving the problems at hand. For this reason, it is essential to make an assessment of what kind of people the investors currently are, regardless of whether they are also creditors or not, and what signals should be sent out on all ontological levels in order to find a way out of the crisis and to expand, strengthen, and make the settler community more diverse and thus more attractive through new people.

 The following very common reasons for emigration and settlement can be found here

1.    People perceive the increasing arbitrariness of the ruling authorities in their countries as presumptuous and patronizing in almost all areas of life. They want to work together with other people to create a community while preserving individual sovereignty
It is only healing when the whole community is reflected in the mirror of the human soul and the strength of the individual soul lives in the community.
2.    People reject any interference with their self-determination over their body, mind and soul, i.e. in particular
•    any form of prescribed statement about the individual physical constitution to bodies that claim to be authorities
•    any form of prescribed diagnosis or test as a precondition for the granting of basic rights
•    especially any form of prescribed therapy
•    There is only one temple in the world, and that is the human body. Nothing is more holy than this tall figure.
3.    People comprehend and experience financial exploitation through a non-transparent and mostly anti-taxpayer use of taxes and fees levied under the pretext of public benefit.

4.    They reject the principle that profits made through personal success are privatized and losses caused by personal failure are socialized. There are many people living in the settlement area who do extremely valuable work completely selflessly, for little or no pay and without cameras running. They are a real treasure and should be viewed with respect and not put into situations that jeopardize this valuable commitment through legal maneuvers.
5.    Rejection of a power structure that is becoming increasingly opaque, in which decisions are made behind closed doors by those who have either illegally obtained or simply stolen the financial resources required to pursue their own selfish interests. People want to actively participate in decision-making processes and not be presented with a fait accompli.
6.    The increasing violence and threat of war as an expression of an exaggerated egoism that can no longer be hidden by any facade, combined with the need to be able to trust one's               neighbour without fear of dealing with an informant for the authorities.

In summary, people who come here value individual freedom for themselves and others and reject subjective arbitrariness. 

An agreement that defines the rights and obligations of an owners' association and thus the rules of cooperation between Reljuv S.A. and the individual investors must be based on the following principles, taking into account what has been described so far:
•    The preservation and further development of the residential area and in particular the public facilities as an essential part of it are only possible if it is possible to fully utilize all currently existing and, if necessary, newly acquired skills within the community of owners.
•    However, the necessary commitment to these skills can only be awakened and maintained over the long term if the people concerned have confidence that their efforts will actually benefit the common good and will not be abused or co-opted by particular interests.
•    The cooperation of all members of the community of owners is based on mutual trust that each member not only exercises his rights, but also fulfils his duties and fulfills them in accordance with his share of the common property.
•    Decisions that affect the entire community of owners are made in such a way that they receive the greatest possible support within the community of owners. 
•    This requires that the decision-making process is characterized by the greatest possible transparency, and all those affected by the decision are given enough time to participate in the decision-making process and to inform themselves about the matter on which a decision is to be made.
•    the discussion preceding a decision takes place in an atmosphere of mutual respect and recognition of other opinions
•    decisions on specialist topics are made by people who are competent in this field and who have been given the trust of as many members of the community of owners as possible to make these decisions, in order to avoid endless debates.
•    All information that is necessary or useful for exercising rights and performing duties must be made available or obtained for the entire community of owners or at least for those entrusted with a specific task. This applies in particular to detailed specifications for construction or services carried out to maintain the community facilities and financed by the public before the contract is awarded, as well as the associated proof of use of the funds provided after completion of the work. 
•    The regulations that affect all members of the community of owners, in particular the duties to be fulfilled, must be limited to what is absolutely necessary, purely for the maintenance of the property in order to meet the main need of most investors for individual freedom and self-determination as the main reason of their coming to EPV. 
•    This is all the more true since many people, including numerous families, have created a new home here with a great deal of effort and love in the confidence that the conditions for settling here as they were at the time of their decision to invest in EPV will only change within a range that will not make it impossible to remain in this new home.  
•    Any regulation that restricts the individual's sovereignty over body, mind and soul must be avoided

Based on the situation analysis and the basic considerations for crisis management, the transition from the 

current paradigm (old condominium agreement from 2021) 
to the 
new paradigm (Reglemento currently deposited with Catastro, known only to a few investors, and new condominium agreement drawn up by Reljuv, as yet unpublished)  

1.    A comprehensive Technical Documentation of the common property, for the maintenance of which the community of owners bears joint responsibility both in terms of content (i.e. technical) and financially. This document corresponds to the declaration of division known in Germany for the creation of communities of owners of, for example, apartment buildings. The preparation of this document is the responsibility of Reljuv and must be submitted to the members of the community of owners prior to the first general meeting that establishes this community of owners. Reljuv is provided with a list of questions by the investors, which is intended to provide structural support in the description of the object in joint responsibility. 
2.    the actual Reglemento to be deposited with the Catastro, which exclusively defines the economic and, in connection with this, legal aspects of the community of owners on the basis of Paraguayan law, in order to organize the preservation of the settlement area and its further development in the best possible way. The actual Reglemento to be deposited with the Catastro, which exclusively defines the economic and, in connection with this, the legal aspects of the community of owners on the basis of Paraguayan law.
3.    Condominium agreement that regulates the spiritual and social life and the associated legal aspects, which are not part of the reglamento, but in addition to their function of organizing the internal life in the condominium can also serve as an attractive figurehead for potential interested parties who no longer feel at home with their ideas of social coexistence in their home countries.
4.    House rules that contain in a few words, also for handing out to guests, the essential regulations that should keep the area safe, tidy and clean
5.    Voluntary commitment by Reljuv S.A. to take legally binding responsibility for the damage caused to the investors and, as a consequence of this and as a sign of real acceptance of responsibility, to assume all financial obligations of the creditors arising from the co-ownership if their money cannot be repaid. The community of owners as a whole will not be held liable for any damage caused by a member of the community of owners (Reljuv S.A.) to other members of the community of owners.

If this assumption of responsibility is demonstrably not possible (through full disclosure of the financial circumstances), other agreements must be reached between the creditors and Reljuv. A unilateral dictation of the settlement provisions on the part of Reljuv must be avoided. 
The willingness of the members of the community of owners to actively participate in the application of the project depends essentially on the design of these documents. The broader the support for the stipulations made here within the community of owners, the greater the prospect of a prosperous cooperation between Reljuv and the investors, even beyond their cooperation within the community of owners, in order not only to maintain the project but also to expand it both qualitatively and quantitatively.

 

Current Version: 26.3.2025 Description_of_the_situation_v6.pdf