By Caribbean News Global contributor
ROSEAU, Dominica – The December 6, general election in Dominica ‘has evidently become a prefix for external and internal mercenaries, intent on derailing the election process, economic progress and the security of the country’.
The United Workers Party (UWP) is “going through great lengths to spread this false narrative in an attempt to de-stabilize Dominica and to make the way for foreigners to come and take over our election process,” remarked, prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit.
“Lennox Linton is desperate and this desperation means that he and his agents and supporters will do all in their power to legitimize their lies by using foreign agents and organizations and Al Jazeera is now one of them,” he said.
Nonetheless, they are unable to retort that the real corrupters of elections were given a pass, hitherto, the hypocrisy and deception of the UWP, is distinctive that, ‘the UWP now wants to become cute, whereas normally, they are always dishonest and pathological in their misinformation campaign.’
Lest we forget, amid international media surveillance, let’s review the following:
Former prime minister of St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Denzil Douglas told citizens that Edison James, former prime minister of Dominica travelled to St Kitts and Nevis to sell his administration a citizenship program on behalf of Henley and Partners, namely, the Sugar Diversification Investment Fund (SDIF).
The SDIF is an integral part of the citizenship by investment program in St Kitts and Nevis; a program at one time managed under an exclusive contract by Henley and Partners. Both James and Lennox Linton travelled several times to St Kitts and Nevis.
Subsequent to the government of St Kitts and Nevis’ agreement to establish the SDIF, a sum of over EC$500,000 was deposited in a Scotia Bank account in St Kitts and Nevis.
In 2005 many believed the funds were from Taiwan, but it was not. The public was told this was consideration for the sale and establishment of the SDIF.
It must be recalled that when Linton was questioned on his several trips to St Kitts and Nevis, he noted that he had to travel to earn a living, as no one in Dominica wanted to employ him. This is an admission by Linton that he went to work and make money in St Kitts and Nevis.
Prior to the 2005 election, James travelled to Switzerland. This was approved by the UWP executive. James stayed at the Hotel Helmhaus. There, James met with many foreign nationals with high net worth.
All of the foreign nationals requested diplomatic passports and postings in exchange for funding; James agreed. These conditions were met to secure campaign financing for the 2005 election from six of the persons he met in Zurich, amounting to approximately EC$6 million.
One of the individuals James met was Howell Woltz, an American who was later convicted for financial fraud and spent 86 months in US Federal Prison.
A preliminary statement in docket number 3:06CR74 – Britt – filed by the US government in seeking to revoke Woltz’s bail order. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who conducted the sting operation said:
‘Finally, Defendants have an unusual ability to maneuver overseas. The entire family has Trinidadian passports (although no passport is necessary to get into The Bahamas) and Defendant bragged to the undercover, ‘I will be issued a diplomatic passport for the nation of Dominica… and cannot be inspected… so that will be comforting, because I get a little nervous when people send papers to the US’ Defendant Howell Woltz has traveled at least once to the government’s knowledge with co-conspirators on a private jet and was in discussions to buy his own private jet in January 2004.’
Transfers
Transfer records disclose that campaign contributions negotiated by James, ranged from six persons were approximately EC$6 million and was telex transferred to Dominica. The funds were subsequently distributed to James (in cash) and companies in Dominica owned and controlled by executive members of the UWP.
Records kept of transfers and disbursements disclosed the following indisputable facts:
- Cash payments to Edison C James
- January 5, 2005, cheque # 1573 to XX company for EC$290,000
- January 5, 2005, cheque # 1574 to XX company for EC$98,000
- January 12, 2005, cheque # 1585 to XX company for EC$510,000
- February 3, 2005, cheque # 1619 to XX company EC$95,000.00
- February 3, 2005, cheque # 1620 to XX company for EC$385,000
- February 24, 2015 cheque # 1731 to XX company for EC$500,000
- March 14, 2005 cheque # 1822 to XX company for EC$335,000
- April 8, 2005, cheque # 1882 to XX company for EC$500,000
- April 8, 2005, cheque #1888 XX company for $50,000
- April 17, 2005, cheque #1914 XX company for $100,000
- April 19, cheque #1919 to XX company for $90,000
- April 23, cheque #1937 to XX company for $400,000
- April 26, cheque # 1939 XX company for $150,000
[XX company denotes that actual name of company has been withheld]
In 2009, it is alleged that SCL/Cambridge Analytica was paid US$1.5 million to manage the UWP’s campaign.
In 2018 Alexander Nix of Cambridge Analytica/SCL told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons that, at times, SCL Elections would undertake eight, nine or ten elections a year, ‘and we are not limited by geography, so this really could be from the Caribbean to Asia to Africa to Europe or everywhere’.
When asked about his involvement in the elections with Christian Kalin of Henley and Partners, including in St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and the referendum in St Vincent and the Grenadines, he responded:
‘I was familiar with Christian Kalin because he had worked in some of the Caribbean islands. I know he used to run a citizen-by –investment programme, certainly in St Kitts and possibly… Dominica. I do not know about the other countries.’
He also told the committee under oath that Kalin, ‘May well have made contributions towards the election campaigns, but you would have to talk to him about that. […] [M]y understanding is that he may well have financed some of the elections or given contributions towards some of the elections.’
This corruption and contamination of elections in Dominica, the wider Caribbean region and democracy is now a matter of record and beyond question.
In 2005 and 2009, Linton was part of Edison’s secret cabal and the frontline activist raise funds for the UWP. These funds from foreign financiers were corrupt campaign contributions and received in complete silence without a blink or wink from Linton, some in the evangelical or Christian council, some of the priests, minister or monsignors of religion and others.
Currently, the UWP policy of misinformation surrounded by the unsuspecting ‘brand new, second-hand team of candidates, Unimpressive, Worthless, Proposition (UWP) that was rejected, repeatedly, by the voters of Dominica’ are active to repeat the same fate of wanton hypocrisy, fraud and corruption.
Linton and the UWP also refuse to discuss the violence directed at parliament and application to prevent the enactment of bills into law for the ‘cleansing’ and confirmation of the register and ID cards, both of which have delayed the process for confirmation and delivery of ID cards.
Faced with these undeniable facts the UWP still cry out for ‘reform’ without conscience or shame, hitherto the hypocrisy and deception with the unsuspecting accomplices focus on lies, fake news, complete misrepresentation and distortion of the law and constitution of Dominica.
This is all in a clever and/or dishonest attempt to protect and free the real corrupters of the election process in Dominica, the UWP’s and their co-conspirators.
