INVEST Saint Lucia has again denied any responsibility on its part in the setting up of the Lambirds Academy in Saint Lucia.
The premier investment promotion company in Saint Lucia also said it would not get involved in the criminal matter in which the academy is currently embroiled and that it did what it had to do where the academy was concerned.
Invest Saint Lucia last May was forced to issue a statement after a public outcry demanding to know what role it played in the academy’s establishment here.
This was its first detailed statement on the Lambirds Academy affair, which came to light in February of last year followed by the arrest of four of the academy’s principal associates, including one of its business partners, Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Shams, on charges of money laundering and human trafficking.
Police closed the academy around the same time its principal associates were arrested leaving stranded about 80 students of Asian descent.
Invest Saint Lucia, in its first statement noted that it did not specifically invite the academy to Saint Lucia but that the academy had accepted a general invitation, issued online and in the local, regional and international media to attend the inaugural Saint Lucia Investment Forum in May 2014. It said there was never and has not since, been any attempt by Invest Saint Lucia to hide the facts of obfuscate information related to the matter.
“Invest Saint Lucia’s only interest has been to ensure that the established processes for investment facilitation and establishment are followed and indeed, not only have we steadfastly maintained that position but had on several occasions communicated to Iftekhar Shams, principal of the Lambirds Academy, the need to abide by the established rules, regulations and laws applicable to the establishment of his business,” the statement read in part.
Invest Saint Lucia went on to state that the requisite due diligence protocols where the academy was concerned were followed and that no calumny or opprobrium should be levied at it or its personnel for facilitating the academy here.
Mc Hale Andrew, Invest Saint Lucia’s Chief Executive Officer Wednesday at a news conference reiterated how far his company’s involvement with the academy went noting that Invest Saint Lucia was very clear with what it had to do with the academy’s establishment here.
“What ended up happening was not part of the investment establishment process. It happened because there were issues with respect to their operations, and what they did and did not do is a matter for the criminal courts to decide, but we are not getting involved in that,” Andrew said.
It is now a year since the Lambirds Academy scandal broke. The matter, which is now in court continues to be one of keen interest to Saint Lucians and frustration to the 40 plus students who are still on island waiting for some form of justice to be dispensed.
They are claiming that bureaucratic impediments and other obstructions are preventing the case from moving forward at a rapid pace and from them returning to their homelands.
The Lambirds scandal: another black eye for St. Lucia: when will it ever stop, from one shame to another. I blame La Cobs for a great part of it. What’s up, still no DPP, no Chief of Police?