Antigua - Labour party responds to accusation claims
February 13, 2009
The legal spokesman for former junior finance minister Asot Michael has responded to charges that have been levelled against the previous Antigua Labour Party (ALP) government, saying the Baldwin Spencer administration is engaging in 'recycled political manipulation'.
"It is an attempt to recycle a political storytelling that they started off in 2004," charged prominent attorney Anthony Astaphan.
"It seems that they (the government) are using the processes of the court and the resources of the state and the machinery available to them to various courts in the various jurisdictions to get 'information' and then take it terribly out of context and plaster it on the wall and say 'here you are'," he added.
Top ALP members
Astaphan was reacting to Tuesday's disclosure by Attorney General Justin Simon that a report, which implicates top ALP members in the alleged misappropriation of more than US$60 million in public funds, had been forwarded to police for further investigations.
The two key defendants in the matter, which dates back to December 1996 when the ALP was still in power, are said to be former Prime Minister Lester Bird and Michael, who was brought into the cabinet by way of the Senate.
But with the country on the threshold of general elections, Astaphan is questioning the timing of the State's move....
Author: Gleaner Reporter
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
