Former Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Kenny Anthony, led the charge. According to him, funds from the Taiwanese Export-Import Bank were routed to a Panamanian bank account under the instruction of the Chastanet-led administration in 2020. The rerouting, as current Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre disclosed, resulted in a US $2.56 million commission being paid into a Panamanian bank account, to a company.
The loan in question was negotiated by the Kenny Anthony administration in 2014 for works at St. Jude Hospital. In 2014, one tranche of payments totaling US $20 million, was wired to Saint Lucia through the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB). In 2020, under the Allen Chastanet Administration, Anthony said, the money was diverted.
“In other words, the money no longer [went] directly to the Central Bank and into the Consolidated Fund here. It [went] to the bank account of the [contractor]. Therefore, we do not have any control over funds that are supposed to be in the Consolidated Fund. This is a serious matter because the Director of Audit had a duty to flag this. I want answers to these questions,” Anthony revealed.
In the Prime Minister’s following address that same evening, it was revealed a commission of close to 10% of the Taiwanese funds was paid. However, Pierre says, it remains unclear to whom the commission was paid. “Do you know that for that transaction in 2020 [under Chasrtanet’s administration], two million, five hundred and sixty thousand, ninety million dollars [$2, 560, 090] was paid in commission? These are the things they do not want people to know. The fees were paid in an account in Panama,” Pierre revealed. “Why are loan funds, negotiated by the Government of Saint Lucia with the Export-Import Bank, being paid into the account of a private company? This is improper.”
The Finance (Administrative) Act of Saint Lucia, section 40; Proceeds of Loan states “Subject to any enactment concerned with general or specific loans, any money borrowed by the Government shall be paid into and form part of the Consolidated Fund”.