US legislators have signalled their intention to investigate Antigua & Barbuda’s role in the US billion Ponzi scheme of convicted fraudster Allen Stanford.
The congressional hearing, being requested by 10 lawmakers from seven states, would also seek to determine if the country has “violated any international treaties.”
Colorado’s congressman, Republican Mike Coffman is leading the charge to get House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to set up a joint hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, and Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
In a joint letter to Ros-Lehtinen the group said that the “Government of Antigua & Barbuda has committed numerous acts against the interests of the United States citizens and operated the financial sector and judicial system of Antigua and Barbuda in a manner that is manifestly contrary to the public policy of the United States.”
The group also accused the Government of allowing Stanford to “operate above the law” and expressed their dismay that Antigua & Barbuda did not co-operate with the US government in their attempts to recover US investor monies.
“The government of Antigua & Barbuda looked out for itself – seizing assets that were funded by Stanford investors, and defaulting on loans.”
The congressmen said they’re “especially alarmed that the Stanford case is not the first instance in which the government of Antigua & Barbuda has illegally seized assets belonging to US citizens.”
They referred to the 2007 expropriation of Half Moon Bay owned by 12 Americans.
This development is a galvanising of efforts that started with the December 23, 2011 resolution introduced by Coffman, which expressed that the government of Antigua committed numerous acts against the interest of US citizens.
House Resolution 507 calls for the suspending of aid, direct or indirect, to Antigua & Barbuda until the government provides complete redress of the issues in the resolution.
Allen Stanford was found guilty of 13 of fourteen fraud charges in the US billion Ponzi scheme and is awaiting sentencing.
(Source http://www.antiguaobserver.com/?p=72686)
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