Germany’s ambassador in Basseterre, will the London-Antigua-St. Kitts Bribery Scandal be raised?

By:Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 23, 2018 – With the Peter Virdee-London-Antigua-St. Kitts Bribery Scandal making the rounds and on social media as a result of the German recorded conversations, Berlin’s Ambassador accredited to St. Kitts and Nevis is in Basseterre.

His Excellency Holger Michael is making his first visit to St. Kitts since taking up his new appointment in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Mr. Michael is expected to make courtesy calls on the Federation’s Governor General, Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Opposition.

It was not immediately known if the embarrassing situation of the alleged bribery by a British property billionaire of Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris and other Caribbean politicians will be raised.

It was the transcripts from surveillance recordings made by German police that were handed over to the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK that triggered their own criminal investigation into allegations of bribery by British tycoon Peter Virdee in which the names of St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris and other Caribbean politicians are mentioned.

The National Crime Agency in the UK alleges Virdee and his partner conspired to bribe corrupt officials.

Two judges in London, were presented with transcripts of a conversation on 12th March, 2016, in which Peter Virdee allegedly told his business partner, Dieter Trutschler that the Prime Minister of St Kitts, Timothy Harris was in London and he was taking Harris and his entourage out for dinner that evening and then have an after-party, “so be ready for a big bill.”

Virdee also told his business partner that Harris told he would like a nice watch.
‘I had a very stiff conversation with him (Harris) to the point. I said ‘Listen, you have got another 3, 3 and a half years. In 2 years’ time you are going to start your election campaign, you are going to come to me and say ‘Peter Virdee, I need some election funding’ and I am going to say ‘PM I can’t help you, if I have not earned anything from this country’ and then you are going to get upset and then we are going to fall out, so it is your call, how do you want to do this?’

“I am going to have a very frank conversation with him (Dr. Harris), I mean as frank as I can get, and today’s conversation is going to be ‘Yes we are going to be in St. Kitts’ or ‘No, we are not going to be in that region’, simple, because I have not got time to go and entertain and go and meet him at airports and take him out for lunches and take eight of them out for dinner, and buy him a watch and buy him (Dr. Harris) this and buy him shoes. I haven’t got time for that.”

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