Gov’t Never Received US$1M From Morgan Trust for Barbuda Recovery-PM Browne

Prime Minister Gaston Browne, has addressed a request made by the Barbuda Member of Parliament, Trevor Walker, regarding the disclosure of information regarding the allocation of funds assigned for the rehabilitation of Barbuda after the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma.

Walker made this appeal during a recent interview on local radio station Observer this week.

Walker claimed that Steve Morgan of a British charitable body, the Steve Morgan Foundation, expressed concern about the lack of transparency as it relates to the US$1 million the Foundation donated to help Barbuda recover from the devastating storm

However, Browne said his government never received the US$1 million that was deposited in the Morgan Trust account with GBC.

“This was due to financial difficulties the bank was experiencing.  The information was communicated to Mr Morgan and his team.  We subsequently advised Mr Morgan that we would seek to make arrangements for the government to transfer US$1M to Global to assist with their liquidity, to settle the transfer from Morgan’s account to fund the Barbuda Luis Hill Housing project,” Browne said in a statement to the media

He further explained that the US$1M was remitted and credited to the government’s account with the Global Bank of Commerce as agreed. 

“However, we were subsequently advised by the management of GBC that they could not affect the Morgan transfer as agreed because Global’s corresponding bank was placed into receivership and therefore could not affect the Morgan transfer,” according to Browne.

He said that whereas the government bears no liability for the Morgan deposit, the proceeds of which were never paid to the government, the Cabinet has instructed the Financial Secretary to make US$1M available to construct homes at Luis Hill in Barbuda, the credit of which should be extended to the Morgan Trust.  

“Evidently, the government cannot be held accountable for monies that were held in escrow at GBC, monies that it has yet to receive,” he said

Meanwhile, the matter was also addressed at the weekly Cabinet Press Briefing on Thursday

Information Minister Melford Nicholas collaborated with PM Brown’s remarks, saying that the government never received the funds, but to “ensure there is no continual bother, the government will make funds available for the Lis Hill Development in Barbuda shortly”

He said as early as Friday, the government will meet with the adjudicator of lands for Barbuda and the Attorney general’s office to accelerate the project

“The funds are held within the GBC but there are regulatory issues with the bank and their ability to process funds within the banks…the funds are locked within that issue,” Nicholas said