CASTRIES, St. Lucia--During a public demonstration march in St. Lucia last week some protesters called on the owner of Sandals Resorts, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, to pay a disputed tax assessment of EC $24.4 million dating back to 2001, including interest and penalties, which Government later agreed to write off.
Tax concessions and write-offs in favour of Sandals has been a thorny issue in the region for some time and is now achieving greater prominence after the Jamaica Observer, which is owned by Stewart, started publishing a still ongoing series of articles vilifying Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister (PM) Gaston Browne after his Government put a stop to a similar situation there.
Browne’s stand has resonated throughout the region, especially in St. Lucia, following Government’s withdrawal of the EC $24 million tax assessment, with some social media comments describing St. Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet as Stewart’s “puppet.”
Others said, “Our not so bright PM gave him back EC $24 million” ... “Stand firm, Mr. Browne, I admire you; wish we had a PM like you in St. Lucia . All we got here is an idiot” ... “Since he’s able to get his way with Chastanet, he feels he can treat the others likewise; stand firm Mr. Browne.”
Stewart is also accused of meddling in St. Lucia elections in the same way that he is trying to do in Antigua and Barbuda through the Jamaica Observer.
According to comments on social media: “He meddled in the St. Lucia general election and is now having his way. Antigua stand up to this blood sucker” ... We will never ever forget these people played a big part in St. Lucia elections when the country was doing extremely well, by sending home over 300 workers days before elections, costing the SLP Government the elections.”
Similar issues and concerns are also being raised in Barbados – where an election is due to be held in the next three months – and in the Turks and Caicos Islands where, according to persistent reports, Stewart may have contributed (possibly illegally, given the Turks and Caicos Islands’ fairly strict campaign finance laws) to the election campaign of the current Government in the British territory. Chastanet, as a proxy for Stewart, was also reported to have flown in on his (Stewart’s) private plane on several occasions to support the election campaign of current Turks and Caicos Islands Premier Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson’s Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).
Another simmering issue in St. Lucia that Government and Sandals have both been trying to obfuscate is a demand by Sandals to import 85 so-called limousines duty- and tax-free, a similar demand for which was rejected by Browne in Antigua and Barbuda because Sandals refused to include local stakeholders in the purchase and operation of the vehicles.
According to the following recorded audio statement obtained by Caribbean News Now, a deliberate effort to disguise the extent of the agreement with Sandals was later employed.
“The missing piece in all this is very simple. I know that Sandals is looking to vertically integrate and to amass 85 vehicles between their four properties so that they can take over and do their own taxis. Sandals denied that and the problem is that, while Sandals brought in three or four vehicles and in the [Cabinet – Ed.] conclusion that I have, one was a CRV. What was explained to me by a Sandals supervisor on the ground at Halcyon was that Sandals was not going to bring in all the vehicles in one time, but bring them in batches: five, six at a time; get them duty-free, five, six at a time. And they showed me how they had brought in things like BMW X5s, Audi Q4s and so on. And that was the difference. Since then, they have denied that and as to whether they have put brakes on that or they’re trying to hide it even better is really left to you to decide.” ~ Caribbean News Now ~
