The Antigua and Barbuda government has dispatched the sum of US$35,000.00 to the US law firm that will undertake the case on its behalf in the United States.
Word of this comes from Prime Minister Gaston Browne who disclosed that the law firm charges US$900.00 per hour and the money has been deposited as an advance to engage the services of the law firm.
The matter comes from the ongoing claims by the Russian daughter of the oligarch who had abandoned the Alfa Nero in Antigua and Barbuda for over a year before it was compulsorily acquired by the government and eventually sold.
Now, acting in concert with local opposition forces, the Russian woman has asked the courts to inquire into the bank accounts of the prime minister and all the other local officials who were involved in the sale. They are claiming that an amount of US$10 million went into the account of the prime minister, a claim he has strenuously denied.
However, stating that he has nothing to hide and after expressing a willingness for the probe to take place, PM Browne said he has been strongly advised against such a move.
“The lawyer said to me, there is no precedent of anyone having the right to go into the personal banking account of a prime minister and he said to me; do not do it and to set that precedent,” he declared.
Additionally, the prime minister noted that as a politician he is what has been described as a Politically Exposed Person (PEP), meaning that there are additional interests in his banking and other information and under those circumstances it is impossible for that money to have been siphoned off and deposited into an account locally, or internationally without raising numerous alarm bells. “It just could not happen,” he emphasized.
Meanwhile, the prime minister explained that the government is footing the bill for the legal fees as all the persons involved were acting in their official capacities when dealing with the Alfa Nero matter.
