Antigua still reeling from Stanford case
TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: Texas billionaire Allen Stanford faces a judge in Houston today. The court will decide whether Stanford will be detained until his trial for an alleged $7 billion fraud. Meanwhile, the repercussions in the case continue in the Caribbean island of Antigua — the former British colony where Stanford
based his business. Stephen Beard has the latest.
Stephen BEard: This week, the Antiguan authorities fired their top financial regulator. Leroy King is alleged to have turned a blind eye to the fraud in return for bribes worth thousands of dollars.
Antigua is still reeling from the case. Sir Allen Stanford was the island’s biggest employer. He was turning the country into a regional banking center.
Christian Voelkel is with IHS Global Insight. He says Stanford’s disgrace may have dashed Antigua’s financial ambitions:
Christian Voelkel: This is especially bad for the government at this time because the financial services industry is seen as a key sector for diversifying the economy over the medium term. The economy is still very tourism and construction dependent.
The government now seems to acknowledge that it bent over backwards to keep Stanford happy — perhaps even removing the previous financial regulator at Stanford’s request.
In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
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