CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Antigua
Former head of the Antigua and
Barbuda Financial Services Regulatory
Commission (FSRC), Leroy King
was recently extradited to the United
States.
The country final
court of appeal, the
Privy Council ruled
against King’s request
to quash the 2009
extradition order signed by the then
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Prime
Minister Baldwin Spencer.
Based on King’s 10-year legal battle
to void extradition, he was put on a
flight bound for New York.
US prosecutors have accused King
of being a key player in helping to conceal
the massive Ponzi Scheme carried
out by billionaire and financier, Allen
Stanford.
Stanford was charged with operating
the Stanford International Bank Ltd. he
owned in Antigua and Barbuda, which
sold certificates of deposit that the US
Securities Exchange Commission said
he conned thousands of investors out
of billions of dollars.
It is alleged that King received thousands
of dollars in bribes from Stanford
to ensure the Antigua regulatory
authority looked the other way and
conducted sham audits of Stanford’s
operations.
A US court in 2012 convicted and
jailed Stanford for a total of 110 years.
Barbados
The Barbados government has identified
a serious social problem that is
reflective in the unprecedented number
of homicides on the island. Educators
met recently to discuss the issue of
violence in schools following the fatal
stabbing of one student by another a
week ago.
Attorney General
Dale Marshall,
responding to the incident
told reporters that
Police Commissioner,
Tyrone Griffith has been meeting with
officials from the Ministry of Education
to discuss a possible solution to violence
in schools.
Marshall said: “What we are seeing is
a growing number of people involved in
the taking of human life,” adding that
“if you look at the statistics you will see
that the average age of persons charged
with perpetrating homicides is dropping
lower and lower and lower.”
He said the Mia Mottley government
would be introducing new intervention
programs aimed at least 5000 of
the most at-risk households in a bid
to avoid a re-occurrence of the recent
homicide.
He said the Ministry of Social Care
will seek to get a social program in place
Caribbean L 4 ife, Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 2019
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Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Alphonso Browne addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly
at the U.N. headquarters Friday, Sept. 27, 2019. Associated Press / Kevin Hagen, File
“so that those households can work
their way out of those difficulties.”
Caribbean
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister,
Gaston Browne recently led a CARICOM
delegation to the United States to participate
in a roundtable discussion derisking
and correspondent banking.
The discussion
which was hosted by
the US House Committee
on Financial
Services included legislators
and bankers.
The roundtable discussion followed
a meeting in September between T&T
Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and US
Congresswoman Maxine Walters, chairwoman
of the US House Committee on
Financial Services.
Caribbean countries have been arguing
that the threat by banks in developed
countries to withdraw correspondent
banking services would exclude the
region from the global finance and
trading system with grave consequences
for maintenance of financial stability,
economic growth, remittance flows and
poverty alleviation.
Earlier this year, Browne called for
the establishment of a Caribbean bank
that would allow the region to counteract
the position of international banks
regarding corresponding banks.
Among the members of the Caribbean
Community delegation were St.
Lucia’s Prime Minister and CARICOM
Chairman, Allen Chastanet, Trinidad
and Tobago National Security Minister
Stuart Young and CARICOM Secretary
General, Irwin La Rocque.
Guyana
Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael
Trotman, has assured the country
that the government has no plans to
replace or neglect the mining sector.
Trotman was at the
time addressing a twoday
National Workshop
and Training on
the Development of a
National Action Plan for Artisanal and
Small-scale Gold Mining, said that as
for as many years gone by, Guyana’s
Artisanal Small and Medium-Scale Gold
Mining (ASGM) Sector had aided in the
country’s development in a significant
way and continues to do so.
He stressed that the government
has no intention of replacing mining
in Guyana.
The minister said that in Guyana,
the Artisanal Small and Medium-Scale
Gold Mining Sector was important to
the national economy, adding that the
ASGM sector accounted for 6.1 percent
of Guyana’s GDP.
Trotman said in 2019, the government
also generated 33 percent of the
foreign exchange earned from gold production.
It was also the main source
of employment and revenue for hinterland
communities including indigenous
ones.
Jamaica
The Jamaica government is moving
to make changes to the Sexual Offences
Act and other legislation, including the
introduction of new offences against
children and the establishment of a Sex
Offenders Registry.
The document was
submitted by the Joint
Select Committee of
Parliament appointed
to complete the review
of the Sexual Offences Act, the Offences
against Person Act, the Domestic Violence
Act and the Child Care and Protection
Act.
Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment
and Sport, Olivia Grange
told Parliament that there is need for
stronger laws to deal with gender-based
violence, particularly sexual offences,
Continued on Page 30
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
Antigua & Barbuda PM leads CARICOM team
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