US-Backed Marketing Firm Will Promote Antigua And Barbuda

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

25 July 2003

Prime Minster of Antigua and Barbuda, Lester Bird, revealed this week that a company has been set up with government involvement that will market the country as a jurisdiction of note comparable to regional neighbours.

The company is being set up by Mr R. Allen Stanford of Stanford Financial Group, a global financial services firm, who, according to Bird, will be investing $8.5 million in the venture and is open to additional private investors.

"The government will be able to select three persons on the board and Mr. Stanford will select three. There will be an Ambassador at Large who will be working on promotions," announced Mr Bird.

"It shows that Mr. Stanford is very much on board assisting Antigua & Barbuda in improving our revenue. The main thing is that in five years it should raise about US$254 million. Beginning with $5 million in the first year, then increasing in terms of revenue that will come to government," the Prime Minister added.

Mr Stanford, who is the sole shareholder of the Texas-based Stanford International Financial Group claims to handle assets of $14 billion for more than 32,000 clients across 58 countries on six continents.

According to Isle of Man consultancy Information Management Solutions, Stanford operations control the Bird International airport, Caribbean Star airline, the major newspaper (The Antigua Sun), Antigua’s largest international & commercial banks and online gambling casinos.

In the late 1990s, following allegations in the media (never tested in court) that Stanford had irregular financial relationships with the Antiguan government, both the UK & US Treasury Departments issued advisories against the country, which were later lifted.

Stanford failed last year to attend an enquiry into alleged abuse of the Antiguan Medical Benefits Fund. The Enquiry concluded that there had been widespread abuse of the Fund, and Stanford resigned from the Management Board of the Fund after accusations of conflict of interest, as a prime lender to the Fund.

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