Antigua discovers more Stanford assets

Just how much property does Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford own in Antigua and Barbuda?

The government thought it had knowledge of the full extent of his assets but now it may not be so sure.

The government says it has discovered that an additional 151 acres of land part-owned by Mr Stanford was not included in a resolution taken to Parliament at the end of February.

When Parliament approved the compulsory acquisition of about 250 acres of lands owned by Mr Stanford, the lands comprising two off-shore islands were not part of the package.

The authorities said they were not aware that the financier, who is accused of a $8bn fraud in the US, had bought the majority shares in an international business corporation which owned the islands.

Malaysian owners

Mr Stanford is said to have brought the assets of Guiana Island and Pelican Island, both off the country's north-east coast, for US$68 million and $17m respectively, last year.

The lands were previously owned by Malaysian investor Dato Tan Kay Hock who had purchased the property in the late 1990s but failed to develop a promised major tourism investment.

After coming to power in 2004, the Baldwin Spencer administration placed a caution on the lands and the matter is before the courts.

An international arbitration handed Dato Tan ownership but the government has appealed.

Both houses of Antigua and Barbuda's parliament approved the acquisition of the land before a US court appointed receiver, Ralph Janvey, moved to seize it.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a civil complaint against Mr Stanford, two associates and three of his companies.

They are alleging that they misled investors who bought certificates of deposit from the bank.

A judge overseeing the civil fraud case authorised Mr Janvey, a Texas lawyer, to freeze the assets of the billionaire and his main companies as regulators pore over their finances.

That includes his businesses in Antigua and Barbuda, where Mr Stanford held citizenship.

Antiguan interests

His businesses there include two restaurants, a newspaper, cricket grounds, a development company, a three-branch local bank and the headquarters of his offshore bank.

Together they employ some 800 people making Mr Stanford the island's largest private employer.

According to 2008 United Nations figures, the total population of Antigua and Barbuda is 83,000.

"We have to give ourselves a bargaining chip, so when the receivers come they have to deal with the government of Antigua and Barbuda," Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said after the House of Representatives approved the seizure.

Opposition parliamentarians abstained from the vote in both houses.

The opposition had said the government should wait for more evidence of wrongdoing, and to see whether US authorities would file criminal charges against Mr Stanford.

--BBC Caribbean.com

Caricom labours over free movement

Two Caribbean prime ministers sound forth on freedom of movement in the Caribbean Community (Caricom).



Sometimes it seems like a mini war of words without the name-calling.

Lofty rhetoric or straight talking?

The Prime Ministers of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados have recently made public statements on the vexed question of the right of eligible nationals of Caricom member nations to move freely across the region.

Barbados is fingered in the regional media as the country most guilty of frustrating the will of the regional single trading market in this area.

The Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said he used very frank and robust language against such practices at a meeting in Bridgetown in January.

Inferior goods

Speaking to the media on his return home, Dr Gonsalves made no reference to Barbados, but he let forth on how he believes Caricom nations generally should behave when it comes to the rules of the single market.

He said: "No one country can cherry pick their way through these various instruments, that you take those most favourable to you and try to resist those you might consider unfavourable.

"In that regard, St Vincent and the Grenadines cannot be asked to purchase goods more highly priced from Caricom countries, sometimes inferior goods ... and yet you could make life difficult for my nationals to enter or stay in your country to work."

It is perhaps when he raised the term "managed migration" that it could be interpreted that he had Barbados in mind - because that is the term frequently used by Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson and his governing Democratic Labour Party.

They had used it in relation to the flow of Guyanese migrants into Barbados, one of Caricom's more well-off nations.

Phased introduction

This what Dr Gonsalves said: The revised (founding) Caricom Treaty of Chaguaramus established a system of managed migration and no country can substitute its own system of managed migration..."

As he indicated, the single market dreams of full freedom of movement, but has had to settle for a phased introduction.

Just a limited number of categories qualify at the moment, such as university graduates and media workers.

Dr Gonsalves said his comments at the Bridgetown meeting received backing from other member states, including Barbados.

At a news conference on 1 March, the Barbados Prime Minister was asked about the free movement issue.

"We are seeking to comply with what Caricom has asked us us to comply with," Mr Thompson said.

"But I can't promise you that we are going to eliminate all barriers to freedom of movement immediately in Barbados and I'm not going to allow any other Caribbean leaders to encourage me to be involved in a lot of lofty rhetoric."

Again, Mr Thompson did not give names.

Development fund

He said that his government aim was for those "invited" to the island's shores to enjoy adequate social services in line with what Barbadians enjoy.

"We have to have an orderly process to achieve that goal; the idea of just throwing open your doors is not going to be my approach to it."

Mr Thompson suggested that Caricom use its new development fund to improve the standard of living of disadvantaged areas of the region.

"If we try to increase standards across the board in the Caribbean then we can have an integration movement that makes a lot more sense."

--BBC Caribean.com