ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC—Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne says he has not seen “any case of corruption” that will undermine the integrity of the Governor of the St. Kitts-based Japanese Caribbean Central Financial institution (ECCB) Timothy Antoine relating to the development of a multi-million greenback (One EC greenback = 0.37 cents) official residence for the Governor.
Final week, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves stated he would neither affirm nor deny writing to Prime Minister Gaston suggesting that the Grenadian-born ECCB Governor “of his movement might want to contemplate whether or not or not his continued occupancy of his Workplace is tenable in all of the circumstances.
“That is more likely to be a painful, private resolution,” Gonsalves wrote within the February 17, 2025, letter to Prime Minister Browne, who has since confirmed to the Caribbean Media Company (CMC) that he had obtained the correspondence.
Nevertheless, on Saturday’s weekly radio program, Browne stated he was assured that the matter can be introduced earlier than the Financial Council of the ECCB.
“What I can say, although, is there’s no proof that the Governor himself had sought to be extreme, and certainly, I don’t know that I’ve seen any case of corruption or so that will, , create a problem when it comes to undermining the Governor’s integrity.
“Possibly, maybe — and once more, look, I really feel that at this level, till we get a correct report, we might even must arrange some unbiased committee to have a look at this subject. I really feel it could be a little bit injudicious to me to return to any conclusion at this level, aside from to say that the quantities spent on the constructing has raised issues, and many people, as Financial Council members, are involved,” Browne informed radio listeners.
In response to the letter, a duplicate of which has been obtained by the CMC, Gonsalves wrote to the Antigua and Barbuda chief, indicating that he had turn out to be conscious of the matter via his son and Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves, who can be a member of the Financial Council of the Japanese Caribbean Forex Union (ECCU).
He stated the finance minister had suggested him “relating to the extraordinary sum of EC$22 million being expended by the Japanese Caribbean Central Financial institution Governor to assemble an official residence for the Governor.
“This act of extreme spending is outrageous,” Gonsalves wrote in his letter, including, “It’s an absolute scandal.
“Cleary there was an inadequate transparency by the Governor on this matter, and the oversight anticipated by the interior evaluation mechanisms of the ECCB, the Board of Administrators of the Financial institution, and the Financial Council has been beneath acceptable or prudent requirements.’
The ECCB serves as a central financial institution for Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts-Nevis, the nations that, along with the British territories of Montserrat and Anguilla, kind the ECCU.
Prime Minister Browne stated that the Financial Council has not met as but and “I’m certain we’ll have to satisfy sooner or later to have a look at this subject.
However he acknowledged, “We don’t have all of that info.
“What is evident is there are some governance failures there. And , sooner or later, we should strengthen the reporting and accountability mechanisms to strengthen the governance framework.
“As a result of on the degree of the Financial Council, I imply, I’d say we have been caught flat-footed when it comes to the amount of cash spent, however I don’t know that we will escape the accountability. I imply, one can argue that we should have recognized,” Prime Minister Browne added.
He stated that on the degree of the financial institution’s directorship, he didn’t know the extent to which they knew how a lot cash was spent.
It might be a little bit untimely for me to make any definitive statements at the moment aside from to say that the matter must be handled and resolved, and sooner or later, the Financial Council will meet and focus on this subject. And, certainly, we’ll must maintain the general public knowledgeable about how this matter is in the end resolved,” Browne added.
In his letter, Prime Minister Gonsalves informed Browne, the chairman of the ECCU Financial Council, that the spending on the residence “rests on the ft of the Governor” and that “such an appalling lack of judgment, the pursuit of obvious vainglory, and a scarcity of sensitivity or prudence, invitations disciplinary motion.”
Within the three-page letter, Gonsalves stated that the ECCU couldn’t countenance an expenditure of no less than EC$22 million on a ten,000-square-foot “mansion of veritable palace proportions,” particularly at a time when the area’s persons are going through substantial financial challenges, together with rising meals costs and the haunting specter of elevated poverty or immiseration.
“The ECCU can’t afford a Governor who has an urge for food for such reasonably priced opulence,” Gonsalves wrote, including that he has been suggested that the “palace mission is so superior that it must be accomplished.”
Gonsalves stated that he had supported Antoine’s appointment and stays against the Governor occupying such a residence.
“I counsel that the Financial Council contemplate promoting it to the Authorities of St. Kitts and Nevis for use for no matter goal it divines,” he stated, including that “this suggestion, in fact, relies on the magnanimity of the federal government of St. Kitts and Nevis to save lots of the face of the Financial institution from ignominy.”
Gonsalves, who additionally addressed the difficulty throughout a radio program on the state-owned NBC Radio final Wednesday, stated he’s conscious of a “journalist who might need a letter who needs me to verify whether or not or not I wrote that letter” to Prime Minister Browne.
He stated the best way the query is framed. He’s “not ready at this stage to remark,” including that if he needed the matter to be ventilated “publicly about any subject as alleged, I’d have already executed public air flow.
“Authorities includes realizing when to do sure issues within the public area and when to not do them Within the public area. These are issues of judgment. However there’s certainly a dwelling which the Central Financial institution is constructing for the Governor, the place the worth tag is extreme and doesn’t replicate a specific degree of prudence,” he stated.
