(CMC) — Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne says he has not seen “any case of corruption” that would undermine the integrity of the Governor of the St. Kitts-based Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Timothy Antoine, regarding the construction of a multi-million-dollar official residence for the bank’s governor.
Last week, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said he would neither confirm nor deny writing to Browne suggesting that the Grenadian-born ECCB Governor, “of his own motion may wish to consider whether or not his continued occupancy of his Office is tenable in all the circumstances.
“This is likely to be a painful, personal decision,” Gonsalves wrote in the Feb. 17 letter to Browne, who has since confirmed to the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that he has received the correspondence.
But speaking on his weekly radio programme on Saturday, Browne said he is certain that the matter will come before the Monetary Council of the ECCB.
“What I can say, though, there’s no evidence that the Governor himself had sought to be excessive, and certainly I don’t know that I have seen any case of corruption or so that would, you know, create an issue in terms of undermining the governor’s integrity.
“Maybe, perhaps — and again, look, I feel that at this point, until we get a proper report, we may even have to set up some independent committee to look at this issue. I feel it may be a little injudicious to me to come to any conclusion at this point, other than to say that the amounts that were spent on the building has raised concerns, and many of us as Monetary Council members, we are concerned,” Browne told radio listeners.
According to the letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the CMC, Gonsalves wrote to the Antigua and Barbuda leader, indicating that he had become aware of the matter through his son and Finance Minister, Camillo Gonsalves, who is also a member of the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
He said the finance minister had advised him “regarding the extraordinary sum of EC$22 million being expended by the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank to construct an official residence for the Governor.
“This act of excessive spending is outrageous,” Gonsalves wrote in his letter, adding “it’s an absolute scandal.
“Cleary there has been an insufficient transparency by the Governor on this matter, and the oversight expected by the internal review mechanisms of the ECCB, the Board of Directors of the Bank, and the Monetary Council, has self evidently been below acceptable or prudent standards.”
The ECCB serves as a central bank for Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis, the countries which together with the British territories of Montserrat and Anguilla, form the ECCU.
Prime Minister Browne said that the Monetary Council has not met as yet and “I’m sure we’ll have to meet at some point to look at this issue.
But he acknowledged “we don’t have all of that information.
“What I will say here, clearly there are some governance failures there. And you know, going forward, we’re going to have to strengthen the reporting mechanisms and the accountability mechanisms, to strengthen the governance framework.
“Because at the level of the Monetary Council, I mean, I would say we were caught flat-footed in terms of the amount of money spent, but I don’t know that we can escape the responsibility. I mean, one can argue that we ought to have known,” Browne added.
He said that at the level of the directorship of the bank, he doesn’t know the extent to which they knew how much money was spent.
“But it may be a little premature for me to make any definitive statements at this time other than to say that the matter has to be dealt with and resolved, and at some point, the Monetary Council will meet and discuss this issue. And, certainly, we’ll have to keep the public informed as how this matter is ultimately resolved,” Browne added.
In his letter, Gonsalves told Browne, the chairman of the ECCU Monetary Council, that the spending on the residence “rests at the feet of the Governor” and that “such an appalling lack of judgement, pursuit of apparent vainglory, and a lack of sensitivity or prudence, invites disciplinary action”.
In the three-page letter, Gonsalves said that the ECCU cannot countenance an expenditure of at least EC$22 million on a 10,000 square feet “mansion of veritable palace proportions, especially at a time when the people of the region are facing huge economic challenges, inclusive of rising food prices, and the haunting spectre of increased poverty or immiseration.
“The ECCU cannot afford a Governor who has an appetite for such affordable opulence,” Gonsalves wrote, adding that he has been advised that the “palace project is so far advanced that it has to be completed”.
Gonsalves said that he had supported the appointment of Antoine and remains opposed to the Governor occupying such a residence.
“I suggest that the Monetary Council give consideration of selling it to the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis to be used for whatever purpose it divines,” he said, adding that “this suggestion, of course, depends on the magnanimity of the government of St. Kitts and Nevis to save the face of the Bank from ignominy”.
Gonsalves, who also addressed the issue during a radio programme on the state-owned NBC Radio last Wednesday, said he is aware of a “journalist who might be in possession of a letter who wants me to confirm whether or not I wrote that letter” to Browne.
He said the way the question is framed he is “not prepared at this stage to comment,” adding that if he wanted the matter to be ventilated, “publicly in relation to any issue as alleged, I would have already done a public ventilation.
“Government involves knowing when to do certain things in the public space and when not to do them in the public space. These are matters of judgment. But it is true that there is a dwelling which is being built by the Central Bank for the Governor, where the price tag is wholly excessive and does not reflect a particular level of prudence,” he said.
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They The two Prime Ministers talking know a lot about big money and mansions. Poor banker man, dem have your replacement and his long bag to go with you job.
Well, if the PM say so, we suppose to just take his word? People still need answers.
PM might not see anything, but that don’t mean nothing nah deh. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.
So is just case closed? We not supposed to ask questions now?
All well and good, but i think full transparency would settle everything once and for all.
These things always seem to get brushed aside until they can’t be ignored anymore.
If everything clean, then open the books and let the facts speak for themselves.