Local News

No official request as yet from NNP, says FIU boss

St. George’s, June 11, 2012 – Labour leader Chester Humphrey Sunday criticized a local talkshow host for an on-air interview with the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the police investigative department that probes “matters arising from suspicious transaction reports, money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes.’’

George Grant, host of the internet and radio broadcast program, “Sundays with George Grant (SWGG),’’ had invited Inspector Senneth Joseph as part of a feature titled, “Unravelling the Facts about the Donation.’’

“I thought it was very inappropriate,’’ Humphrey, the labour representative in the Senate, told Grant in commenting on the interview with Joseph.

The “donation,’’ referred to in the SWGG program title, concerns a cash contribution received by Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, who is also leader of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The opposition New National Party (NNP) has called on the FIU to investigate what it says is a US$150,000 donation received by a very senior government official from a source in Saudi Arabia.

Thomas has denied the NNP claim, saying that in his capacity as NDC leader, he was the recipient of US$50,000 to help with the work of his party.

According to the prime minister, the money was donated by someone who is a “corporate resident’’ of the British Virgin Islands, and who does not want his name made public.

A photocopy of a bank declaration, which carried what appears to be the signature of Thomas, was released late last week by the Prime Minister’s Office. The name of the cash donor was blotted out on the document.

“The FIU, under my watch, will never take any side,’’ Inspector Joseph said in response to questions from Grant on whether the NNP had formally requested a probe into the donation received by the prime minister.

The police officer, while admitting that the FIU had not been contacted by the opposition, also explained that under “strict requirements in law,’’ his department ought not to disclose whether or not it has received a report leading to an investigation.

Sen. Humphrey telephoned Grant at the conclusion of the pre-corded interview with Joseph, arguing that the SWWG host “attempted to draw a state institution, that ought to be neutral, into a political issue.’’

Joseph “handled himself well’’ but should have declined the interview, Humphrey said.

Another SWWG guest was NDC treasurer Bernard Isaac, who disputed claims by many executive members of the party that they were unaware of the BVI donation that Prime Minister Thomas received in January.

Isaac said he had reported receiving money from the prime minister, including more than EC$33,000 to settle an outstanding party debt.

“There are other small bills that were paid,’’ he added.

Meanwhile, the opposition is suggesting that there are more transactions than the reported US$50,000.

Elvin Nimrod, deputy leader of the NNP, told a public meeting of the party on Sunday that the US$50,000 was a “drop in the bucket’’ and “it looks like millions’’ were received.

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