PM blasts US authorities for “blatant lies” in money laundering report

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Prime Minister Gaston Browne has denounced US authorities for their hostile acts towards Antigua and the region in their just-released report on money laundering.

“They have become more and more hostile to countries in the Caribbean including Antigua and Barbuda,” the prime minister said over the weekend, while adding that he wants to maintain the good relations with the United States.

“But when they write up these false things, when they come with these audacious mendacities, they are undermining the relationship between the United States and Caricom countries,” he told Pointe FM.

Making reference to a statement issued by St. Kitts and Nevis recently, the prime minister said: “I am sure other countries will be putting out statements because they are saying things that are not factual and they got to stop it.”

The United States 2018 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) has publicly labelled all member-states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) as “major money laundering jurisdictions”.

But Browne, who is also the Finance Minister, said the report contains a number of lies.

“They say, for example, that we have several casinos involved in money laundering. There is one casino operating in this country and that’s Kings Casino. The other two are closed.”

“They say where as we have passed laws to tax the offshore banks [and that] we have not taxed them. We have not only taxed them but we have collected the funds…so again factually incorrect.”

He said the segment of the report which spoke to the Odebretch Bribery Scandal and the Citizenship by Investment Programme was also incorrect.

Regarding an increase in narcotics trafficking, the Prime Minister said, “there is no evidence produced to confirm that.”

“I know they don’t like my style cause I’m not going to cow down to them. They not going to beat me to the ground. When you lie, you just lie.”

The prime minister told radio listeners that the US was getting its information from people opposed to his government, “and everything they say, they take it and put it in their report.”

 

 

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6 COMMENTS

  1. This is just another approach, condemn the whole region. This is certainly not about guns, drugs or money laundering, we as a people should wake up and see whats going on. In my humble opinion, what is at stake here is our ability to control our financial path. We will eventually have to give up control of our Central Bank inorder to continue doing business with external
    Banks, save our economies, prevent our people from starving and stabilize the region. This most recent report along with pressures faced by our banking system is just a means to that end…

  2. Will the proposed response letter be published in the media? In your first term PM Canada has put visa measures in place for Antiguans and Barbudans. By this standard should we look forward to similar measures from other first world countries?

    • I trust you remember when young Antiguan student Zion Michael put the question to Justin Trudeau about the visa requirements, he said that he would like to work with Antigua to find ways to remove the visa requirement, the PM immediately wrote to him offering the hand to work together. To date of course nothing has been done by Canada. It was just a bluff. Canada was just put under external pressure from the USA is you ask me. The big industrial countries make the rules and break them as they feel like. They will constantly move the goal post. If you think you can satisfy them you are only fooling yourself.

      • Stop lie.
        Nobody trust ALP with money or passport and amnesty or CIP.

        How the US dont pressure Canada for Barbados and the Bahamas who also have offshore banking industries
        Bahamians can travel to the US visa free and they are always on some black grey or white list, how come the US dont apply visa restrictions on them.
        Ill tell you, they dont sell passport and dont have a open door immigration policy and never ending amnesty where criminals from the DR and Jamaica use it as a stepping stone to migrate to North America.

  3. blatant lies PM?

    Coo ya. Tief no lub see tief wid long bag. lawd me belly

    maybe when you tell the antiguan people where Casroy 3 million dollars gone and where the rest of the 60 plus million us dollars forfeited by the ex Bulgarian PM disappear to then we can talk about blatant lies

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