Regional business

Errol Cort sued by Stanford investors

Antigua's National Security Minister Errol Cort has been slapped with a US$1-million lawsuit by former investors in Stanford International Bank.

Cort was Antigua and Barbuda's finance minister between 2004 and 2009.

The claim against Cort was among more than a dozen 'fraudulent transfer' lawsuits, totalling US$25 million, filed Wednesday by the Official Stanford Investors Committee and court-appointed receiver Ralph Janvey.

Edward Valdespino, an attorney for the investors committee, highlighted in the complaint that Cort had "direct oversight of the Antigua and Barbuda government's offshore banking regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC)," whose regulation of Stanford's companies the lawyer described as 'a sham'.

Former FSRC administrator Leroy King, who was indicted in the US in 2009 for allegedly accepting bribes from indicted financier R. Allen Stanford, was not named in the suit. King is fighting his extradition in the local courts.

The suits were all filed on the day of the deadline for making claims - exactly two years to the date that the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against the former financier for an alleged US$7-billion fraud.

Stanford is expected to begin treatment for addiction to anti-depressants soon.

On Monday he left the Houston, Texas detention facility where he had been awaiting trial, but a gag order in the case prevented him or his attorney from saying where he was taken.

- CMC

Dominica defends Chinese loans

The Dominica government has brushed aside a campaign launched by a prominent business-man to halt the construction of a new residence for the head of state, President Nicholas Liverpool.

Urban Renewal Minister Julius Timothy said the Roosevelt Skerrit-led administration was justified in seeking a EC$27-million (US$10m) loan from China to construct a number of projects, including the new official residence.

He said businessman Jerry Brisbane, who launched the campaign on Tuesday, is uninformed about the projects.

"There are so many things the poor guy is talking about that he really does not know. Now he is talking about the president's House. The $27 million is not only for the president's House," he said, adding that there will also be the construction of a state-of-the art conference centre to accommodate more than 200 people, a new office for the Elections Commission, the Public Service Commission and the Integrity in Public Service Commission.

"We are remodelling the State house, and we are doing it in such a way it will be a visitors' site and visitors will be charged a fee. So it becomes a tourism product as well."

Timothy, a former finance minister, said that it is unfortunate that "when rich boys like these think they could build their house with their swimming pool and you have a president, the head of state, who other heads of state from all over will visit, but he should be living at his home.

"I think this is a very, very unfortunate situation," Timothy told the state-owned DBS radio.

Brisbane told a news conference that the money being sought to build the new official residence was a loan and that citizens had no idea as to the terms of repayment.

"To date, the public is totally unaware of the terms and conditions of this loan, repayment period, interest rates, etc," he said, adding the campaign is being undertaken with the theme 'What a waste'.

"It is indeed a great waste ... when our government that claims to be so caring and interested in the citizens, especially the poor, decides to borrow EC$27 million from the Chinese government to build an unnecessary state palace and to place the taxpayers and citizens under further financial burden," he said.

Brisbane said that the loan was being acquired at a time when the local economy is under "great strain and when there are so many basic needs in the country".

- CMC