BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NEVIS’S Premier and Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Mark Brantley has named Opposition Leader the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas as the passenger whose money was seized by officers of the UK Border Force at Gatwick Airport on Saturday, November 16, 2019.
Brantley made this pronouncement in a sitting of the National Assembly on Friday (Dec. 13).
An article written by Harry Cole and published by the UK Daily Mail on Sunday, December 8, 2019 stated that Dr. Douglas was detained at Gatwick Airport on Saturday, November 16, 2019 after he reportedly tried to leave the country with £70,000.
The article further stated: “Officers seized the equivalent of more than £70,000 – in sterling, US dollars and eastern Caribbean dollars – from him on November 16 when he could not explain why he was attempting to leave the country with the cash.”
Dr. Douglas had however issued a press release that condemed the Daily Mail’s article in which he said was “false and malicious” and that his lawyers were weighing legal options.
At Friday’s sitting, Brantley told the House: “I have some information that has come. On the 16th of November 2019, they say a passenger travelling out bound from Gatwick to Dubai on Emirates EK010 was detained with a large amount of cash.
“The passenger did not declare the cash, except for what he said was 20,000 in his jacket pocket, while his travel companion, he said, had 3,000. The Border officer, when he checked the carry-on, found a bundle of notes in white and brown envelopes in the passenger’s luggage.
“The total was US$78,000, £3,000 and EC$2,000. It says another officer decided to search something called a black trolley. When they searched the black trolley, this is the other officer you know, they found five wrapped-bundles of cash, each totaling £1,000.”
Brantley reiterated the amount of cash found, what was done with it and voiced his concern on the matter as the Federation’s Foreign Affairs Minister.
“They ended up with a total of US$78,000 in cash, £9,000 in cash and EC$2,000. And here is a bit now that I am concerned about. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs for this country, feeling as I feel that I am a janitor having to go around the world to clean up other people’s mess, here is where I am concerned. They say that the money – US$78,000 in cash, £9,000 in cash and EC$2,000 in cash – were seized under the provisions of the proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
“A passenger travelling with another passenger to Dubai on Emirates EK010 from Gatwick to Dubai with US$78,000 raw cash, £9,000 raw cash and EC$2,000 raw cash, and that money was seized by the UK authorities under the proceeds of Crime Act. That is important!”
He stated that the matter did not end at the Gatwick Airport, but in court.
“The passenger was told that on the 19th of November you must come to the Crawley Magistrate’s Court. And you know why the passenger was told that? To get back your money you have to show where it come from. You have to justify the origins so that they are satisfied it is not the proceeds of crime.”
The Foreign Affairs Minister declared that he did not know what transpired in the court, “but I will tell you is that the court ordered that the money be seized for six months”.
Under the United Kingdom Money Laundering Law, anyone leaving the UK to travel to a non-EU country must declare any sum above EU10,000 pounds. Failing to do could result in a 5,000-pound fine.
The Daily Mail’s article also stated that the Crawley Magistrate’s Court had issued an order for the monies to be held for six months while investigations into the matter are being conducted.
In continuation of his presentation, Brantley told the House that he knew who the passenger was.
“I go back to my document. When all of this was happening, I said to myself: ‘Well, I wonder who this passenger was, who could be this passenger, who they are talking about?’ And hear what they say, the passenger with the cash was identified from his passport as Mr. Denzil Llewellyn Douglas.”
At that point, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Michael Perkins, stepped in to seek clarification on the information stated by Brantley.
“A particular question to the presenter right now. Are you saying in this National Assembly sir that the information you have related to just now you received in your capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs?”
In response, Brantley said, “Well, I received that information…formally, the Government had received that information and that information is within the possession of the Government.”
Brantley’s response had created a furor in the National Assembly with Dr. Douglas calling on him to show the Speaker the document from which he said was in the Government’s possession.
Meanwhile, Dr. Douglas one again stated that he had no charges to answer.
