“Antigua.news did it again”. What?- Our response to Hursts press release

Ambassador Lionel Hurst, Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister, issued a press release yesterday (see below), making several confusing rebukes to Antigua.News in relation to our story about the recent arrest of Roger Ver.

According to Hurst, Roger Ver “is being described as an Antiguan and Barbudan citizen” by antigua.news, which seems to us to be an indisputable fact.

Hurst then adds, “In fact, he has not broken a single law in Antigua and Barbuda.”. Considering that in our article, we did not write that Ver has committed offenses in Antigua and Barbuda, this statement is blatantly out of context.

But Hurst goes much further: “Yet, Antigua.News, eager to sully the name of Antigua and Barbuda and to harm the Citizenship by Investment Program, describes this former U.S. citizen as a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda.”.

It is important to recognize the gravity of the accusation made against us and address it appropriately.

It should be noted that the claim made by Hurst is entirely baseless, as our article does not make any reference to the fact that Roger Ver obtained citizenship via the CBI Program.

Ignoring such a serious allegation is not an option, and we must take steps to refute it.

Ambassador Hurst’s recent statement was quite extreme, considering that he serves as the “Chief of Staff” of the prime minister’s office. It is surprising that someone in his position would make such a statement. Not unless, of course, it is the opinion of the Government.

Is this then the opinion of the prime minister and his cabinet on antigua.news? We need to know Mr Chief of Staff.

It is surprising that Hurst only criticized Antigua.news and completely ignored Antiguanewsroom and Antiguabreakingnews. All three portals published news about Roger Ver’s arrest.

In fact, the other two portals also wrote stories that were similar in tone to that of antigua.news. They used headlines such as “Antiguan citizen charged for tax fraud” and “Antiguan citizen charged in US for tax fraud”.

Let us refresh your memory Mr Ambassador; Antiguanewsroom reported that Roger Ver obtained his citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda through the CBI program, while Antigua News did not, likely to avoid questioning the citizenship program.

Antiguanewsroom also mentioned that Roger Ver was once considered for the position of non-resident ambassador in Japan, a fact that was known to antigua.news but was not included in the report because it could potentially cause embarrassment to the country.

This is also because, from information in our possession, the government put that appointment on hold because it was not completely satisfied with the due diligence carried out on Roger Ver (this fact was instead glossed over by Antiguanewsroom).

In case Mr Hurst you conveniently forgot to read the other articles published by these other two media entities, you can check them out.

Antigua.news has a commitment to balance and impartiality, giving a voice to all members of the majority and opposition without discrimination.

Our editorial policy is highly professional. We refrain from personal attacks and show respect for the principle of the presumption of innocence.

This principle applies to Roger Ver as well, who has made many valuable investments in the country and has also distinguished himself through his philanthropic activities during the COVID pandemic.

We want to hope that this is not Ambassador Hurst’s personal attack on Antigua.news.

We are not finished with our observations on your press statement.

In fact, Hurst’s press release risks being a dangerous boomerang because it could be interpreted as a desire to distinguish native Antiguans from CIP Antiguans.

The view of antigua.news, on the other hand, is that there can be no series A citizens and series B citizens.

A foreigner who acquires citizenship with the CBI program should be considered an Antiguan like everyone else, for better or worse, especially when he or she decides to live and invest in our country, as Roger Ver did.

In other words, one cannot consider a foreigner as an Antiguan only when he or she makes donations to the state or achieves major successes and instead dismiss him or her as a foreigner when he or she is in trouble.

This is precisely, Ambassador Hurst, the worst way to “sully the name of Antigua and Barbuda and to harm the Citizenship by Investment Program” and we are very sorry indeed that you do not understand this.

One last note about ANR, which wanted to knot Hurst’s press release in the following way:

“The Antigua.News (which fabricated a recent news story about a fetus at the landfill) portal has done it again. (N.B THIS PORTAL IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH ANR and HAS J TRUTH AS ITS MAIN SPOKESMAN”

Dear Antigua News Room, Antigua.News fabricated the story about the fetus to show everyone that you shamelessly copy our articles with no credit.

Regarding JTruth, Antigua. News is a sponsor of The Happening program, proving that our portal gives everyone a voice without bias. This is our “pride”; a word that is perhaps foreign to ANR.

SEE HURST LETTER BELOW