Is there another Mr. Standford in the rising in the Caribbean?

Details are emerging of how an American banker, accused of operating a multi-million dollar scheme which he fronted as the Millennium Bank of St Vincent and the Grenadines, spent the money he allegedly swindled from investors on expensive property and on the upkeep of his wife and mistresses this is according to www.caribbean360.com

Documents submitted by prosecutors show that William Wise, 58, did not make any investments with the money he received from investors.

Instead, it has been alleged, he used as much as US$7 million to buy an estate in the Caribbean island where the offshore bank was said to be based; spent US$1 million on wine; US$40,000 a month on interest for a private plane; paid US$12,000 weekly to his wife; and gave an unknown number of female companions between US$6,000 and US$10,000 every month.

He also allegedly took US$400,000 to pay off a mortgage in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Fabulous Rates for Caricom Nationals. A federal judge has frozen Wise's assets and turned them over to a receiver to be auctioned off to repay investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed suit against Wise and others in March, saying they were using the bank as a front for a Ponzi scheme that has stolen more than US$68 million from 375 investors, including at least 12 people in North Carolina.

The SEC suit alleges that Millennium Bank advertised certificates of deposit (CDs), in luxury lifestyle magazines and on its web site, guaranteeing seven to nine per cent return on investment. The returns were more than four times the interest rates offered on CDs by most commercial banks, authorities said.

Wise has not been charged with a crime so far and is only facing a civil suit.

His legal troubles surfaced a month after financier Sir Allen Stanford faced charges stemming from a similar fraud that operated through the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.(Caribworldnews)

The nations of the Caribbean must be weary of these unwanted exposure as tax havens and money laundering paradises of the wealthy. What's next?

The Caribbean Regional Integration at Crossroads

It appears like a distant past that our fervent leaders spoke vociferously for the creation of a CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), an integrated development strategy envisioned at the 10th Meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government in Grenada in 1989. These powerful voices pale in comparison to the weak monotones of the murmurs we hear presently. The current conundrum on the issue of immigration matters reflects the present level of commitment of our leaders to regional integration. The “our space” has dissolved into the quarrels of “you in my space”, a regionalistic protagonism converted into an individualistic antagonism of self interest and pride.

This crisis is apparently sui generis to the Region, when the same is mounting a “sophisticated” blend of diplomacy and negotiations to lobby for a change in the American “USA” Foreign Policy which according to them is “unjust and unfair”. The same reflects an ultra-right wing disposition to have and not give. The paralysis here is that the notion of a global village whether understood or remotely accepted has not sunk into the weary heads of our regional leaders who struggle to walk a thin line between advancing national interest and fostering greater political mileage while per chance advancing regional integration.

It is to no one’s surprise that the “rounding up” of Guyanese in Barbados or the “Heartless Antiguan policy towards CARICOM nationals” is now seen as a colossal bubble about to burst. As vindictive as the six (6) months time frame granted by the Barbadian government to the illegal immigrants to have their status regularized may seem, which produces a potentially tricked sanitization of the island of its illegal workers who provide invaluable service to the growth and development of the Island of the Flying fish’s economy , Immigration policies are simply a mean to an end.

This distasteful development is quickly turning its ugly head into a proliferation of the “MySpace” mindset which has engulfed this region of small “countries” whose economies pale in significance to that of its neighbors.

Whilst it is imperative that our leaders promote the “demilitarization” of free movements of skilled workers in CARICOM, one cannot possibly justify the right of those entering one’s country illegally. A wrong is never a right. It is for the same reason that the initiative came about in the first place, to make skills movement hassle free and not illegally free. Nevertheless, a few bad apples continue to spoil the opportunities of the bunch. Nonetheless, undocumented immigrants deserve to be treated humanely and respectfully and to be dignifiedly and not unceremoniously repatriated to their home country.

It is of no surprise that we see the regional leaders expressing outright “regret and concern” of the increasing numbers of the regional body members pushing feverishly for a more intrinsic alliance with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and hence the ALBA initiative. Some unnerved by the benefits to be had from the CARICOM regional grouping are now becoming ponds to the proverbial “a stitch in time saves nine.”

The Petrocaribe initiative seemed a poison chalice to the many that it rescued during the oil price surges of the past year. Inevitably, what we have before us represent the nucleus of the problems the regional leaders are facing. The CSME is indisputably at crossroads, and unless something is done to restrain this loose canon, we will continue to “talk the walk” and not “walk the talk”.

It gives the impression that the proverb “we never miss the water until the well runs dry” was written for us and by us, we only learn the hard way indeed. What has to ensue before our leaders implement a make or break effort? When Barbados repeat the 1 from 10 leaves 0” avowal or “Trinidad and Jamaica align with the OECS instead? I think CARICOM should take a leaf of the OECS’s books.

The efforts of our founder fathers who initiated CARIFTA should not go in vain. It’s apparent that neither our leaders nor peoples are not cognizant of the “NEED” versus the “WANT” of regional integration.

Should Dominica's Name be changed?

While addressing a Good Governance forum , the Real Labour Party’s representative Mr. Washway Douglas highlighted some of the RLP’s strategies to move Dominica forward.
"Notwithstanding the clean and green policy and the Renewable Energy Program, Mr Douglas firmly believes the country’s name should be changed from Dominica to ‘Waitukubuli’ the name given by the indigenous people of the country"
He further explained that "this is in an effort to lessen the inconvenience of being mistaken for the Dominican Republic and also to help reduce the costs of advertisements made in efforts to clarify that Dominica is not the Dominican Republic.

But our planet is in peril, our economy in decadence and our society is in chaos. Our Countries are in dire need for social and economic policies that would improve the standard of living and well being of our populace, provide education for our youth and empower them with life's skills. The global economic recession is taking a toll on us all, the majority of our expendible resources have been plunged to the bottomless sea of "stimulus packages".

Whether this is a matter of coincidence or misfortune for our nature isle to be mistaken as the Dominican Republic remains an unsolved mystery. Nevertheless, the intrinsic costs associated with renaming the country and promoting this new "tourism product" would be unprecedented. These to be resources could be otherwise invested in more profitable ventures. Besides, it might even be more lucrative if the local and the diaspora would present Dominica as is "the Commonwealth of Dominica" and not just "Dominica", that should save us some pennies.

It is time our aspiring politicians bring real meat to the table and discuss core issues, issues that in next ten or twenty years will decide the destiny of the country. We would want to know the following:

1. How will they deal with the global economic crisis and the diminishing market for our agricultural products?
2. How will they address the increasing unemployment rate, crime amongst youths and high delinquency rate?
3. What politices will they promote pertinent to climate change?
4. What infraestructural developments will they explore and how do they plan to seek funding?
5. What will their foreign policy focus be, a priority listing. among many others?

But are policies such as the "Dominica name change" what the country needs presently to take to foster its social and economic developments? Share your thoughts and comment.