BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May 18, 2010 (PAM Public Relations Office) - It was just a few short weeks ago that an international publication Business News Europe reported that the FBI is investigating links between St. Kitts and Nevis and Slovakia in the context of money laundering. According to that report FBI officials flew to Slovakia with detailed information from their investigations that showed troubling linkages and that government took action. Ministers were fired. Such action is impossible here not least because the corruption here begins right at the very top echelons of the Douglas Administration.
The Federation was rocked in December with the revelations of the existence of Lex Consulting LLC which was registered in New York at the address of the mother of Prime Minister Douglas’ children who is also a St. Kitts government employee. This company was revealed to have accounts in City Bank and JP Morgan Chase bank through which $76 million have passed over the last decade. More recent reports indicate that the company address has changed to Virginia but this company must be the most peculiar since, according to Prime Minister Douglas, it does consulting work for the Labour party but instead of being paid it pays its clients.
Now the Associated Press and MSNBC among other news outlets are reporting that St. Kitts and St. Vincent have been singled out as being particularly vulnerable to drug trafficking – and the violence and other social pathologies that go with it – because of government corruption. How unsurprising that Prime Minister Douglas and his pal Prime Minister Ralph Gonzalves are the two leaders most implicated. These are the same people that spew a lot of nonsense about people giving the country a bad name when we talk about crime. Yet, the situation in our country is such that the international press does not need PAM for information. This most recent report came out of a meeting that the UD Defense Secretary Robert Gates had with regional leaders last month. When the Economist wrote the article Sun, Sand and Murder in 2008 it did not quote a single local source. Neither did Business News Europe need to rely on any local sources. When the US State Department warned investors against coming hear because this Labour government has a habit of taking private land without compensation and gave five examples, it did not need PAM for that. The investigations and concern of the US government about our government and the murder stats are quite enough.
How much longer before St. Kitts and Nevis becomes a pariah and just when our country is struggling the most?
