Long-standing allegations of corruption involving government ministers and other officials in Saint Lucia and a South Florida businessman have attracted the attention of the widely-read Florida newspaper, The Miami Herald.
In a lengthy article on Monday, Herald reporters Adiel Kaplan and Aaron Leibowitz described how Antonio Assenza, who came to the United States from Venezuela in 1990, became tangled up in a corruption scandal involving a proposed $157 million redevelopment project at Hewanorra International Airport (HIA) in Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia, in 2009.
In 2014, the government of Saint Lucia requested assistance from the United States in relation to a criminal investigation into suspected bribery regarding the airport redevelopment project.
The targets of the investigation were initially said to be Assenza and Guy Joseph, Saint Lucia’s current minister for economic development, housing, urban renewal, transport and civil aviation.
However, from court documents filed in US federal court in Fort Lauderdale, which although meant to be kept under seal were instead filed publicly in the Southern District of Florida, the investigation also focused on Andre Edgar, a businessman in Saint Lucia, and Sean Matthew, former head of the Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority (SLASPA).
According to Saint Lucian authorities, in 2009 SLASPA requested proposals for the development of a new airport, which was an estimated $157 million project. After evaluating the submitted proposals, SLASPA was to present its recommendation to the Saint Lucian Cabinet, which would make the final determination.
With input from Matthew, as then head of SLASPA, and others, Assenza and his local company Asphalt & Mining (St Lucia) Company Limited (A&M) submitted a proposal for the project. Prior to and during the request for proposal process, Assenza, Edgar, Joseph, and Matthew were in regular communication with one another via telephone.
The volume of calls increased at key points in the bidding period, including before and after Assenza’s pitch meeting with SLASPA. In total, some 200 calls were made between Assenza, his business partner and three government officials – Joseph, Matthew, and then tourism minister, now prime minister, Allen Chastanet – in the months leading up to the initial contract award in 2009. The majority of the calls were made before the request for bids was even announced.
The investigation did not find any calls to the other two bidders during that crucial time.
When asked by the Herald about the calls, Assenza noted that the majority did not involve him personally and, besides, he had proper cause to communicate with the government because he was separately working on other public roads projects on the island. Indeed, the investigation found most of the calls involved Assenza’s partner, a Saint Lucian businessman who was close friends with Joseph.
In fact, A&M had been awarded two substantial so-called “direct purchase” contracts previously at the behest of Joseph as the responsible minister without any advertising or any competitive bidding. One contract to rehabilitate the Babonneau Highway in Saint Lucia was valued at EC$12.24 million (US$4.5 million), while the other to rehabilitate the Desruisseaux Road was valued at EC$10.55 million (US$3.9 million).
Both contracts were later revealed to be significantly overpriced.
Nevertheless, the volume of the calls overall “increased at key points in the bidding period, including before and after Assenza’s pitch meeting with the Port Authority.”
In August 2009, the Port Authority recommended that another competitor be awarded the bid, with Assenza’s bid ranked last out of the three proposals received.
In September 2009, Matthew met with the Saint Lucian Cabinet to present the development plans. A high volume of calls between Assenza, Edgar, Joseph, and Matthew occurred around Matthew’s presentation to the Cabinet. A few days after the meeting, Joseph provided the Port Authority with additional details about A&M’s proposal.
In October 2009, Matthew and SLASPA recommended further negotiation with A&M.
SLASPA then wrote to all three bidders notifying them that their bids were unsuccessful and, under instructions from the Cabinet, issued a new request for proposals. A&M submitted a new proposal.
In January 2010, the Port Authority recommended A&M as the winning bidder. In February 2010, the Cabinet approved the award to A&M.
As part of its winning bid, A&M agreed to provide US$23,550,000 interest-free counterpart financing for the project. Saint Lucia planned to obtain the rest of the financing for the project from Deutsche Bank. In July 2012, Deutsche Bank notified SLASPA that they could not move forward with their portion of the financing, in part because Assenza failed the bank’s due diligence requirements. The project did not proceed at that time due to lack of funding.
Saint Lucian investigators believed that the facts are indicative of a criminal agreement between Assenza and public officials in the government of Saint Lucia regarding the project.
Based upon the date of the initial request for assistance by the Saint Lucia attorney general on November 12, 2014, and the amended request on December 15, 2015, it seems clear that the investigation was launched locally during the previous administration of then-prime minister, Dr Kenny Anthony.
