Eustace calls on Glen Beache to resign

Chief Executive Officer of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority Glen Beache says that he is staying put amidst calls for his resignation.{{more}}

“Let them bring evidence that there was some form of corruption…. If they bring some sort of corruption, yes, I will resign.”

In a brief telephone interview with SEARCHLIGHT yesterday, Beache, the former Minister of Tourism, said that he had explained himself sufficiently, when he spoke on the matter in contention about four months ago, and had little more to say on the issue.

The call for his resignation was made by the Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace at a press conference yesterday, Monday, July 18.

Eustace alleged that statements made by Beache in an article published in SEARCHLIGHT on April 1 this year, concerning his involvement with Lonsdale, Saatchi and Saatchi of Trinidad and Tobago, the company responsible for the regional and international marketing of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines tourism product, were not truthful.

Eustace said that the actions of the CEO show a conflict of interest and his actions ‘smell to high heaven’.

“How can the CEO of the Tourism Authority effectively supervise the work of Lonsdale, Saatchi and Saatchi, including the award of future contracts, when Mr. (Ken) Attale and Miss (Christine) James are currently on the board of his company? They are close friends. Is this in the best interest of tourism development in our country?

“Why would the Minster of Tourism, now CEO of the Tourism Authority, form a company with the same people hired to do our country’s marketing and promotion? That is a straight conflict of interest!

“How would the CEO Beache be able to hold himself at arms length to determine which companies win these contracts to promote our tourism product, when he owns a sister company to the one currently being paid to do our promotions?”

The sister company to which Eustace refers is Lonsdale Advertising and Marketing Communication SVG LTD, which was incorporated by Beache, with his wife and two Lonsdale, Saatchi and Saatchi executives as its directors.

Although Beache in the April 1 article indicated that the local company had been shelved and was completely different to that of the Trinidad-based company, the President of the New Democratic Party (NDP) said that the Articles of Incorporation stated that both companies would be involved in the same business. He said that Beache’s decision to form a company that would deal with marketing tourism while he was tourism minister was irresponsible.

Eustace further called on current Minister of Tourism Saboto Caesar to terminate contracts between this country and Lonsdale Saatchi and Saatchi because of its relationship with the CEO.

Among other questions, Eustace asked for an update on the performance of the regional company, since, according to the first quarter tourism statistics, there had been a decline in visitors to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

“How is Lonsdale, Saatchi and Saatchi functioning in relation to promotion of this country overseas, especially when we look at the continuing decline of arrivals of visitors to our shores? We have information that an audit of the work of Lonsdale, Saatchi and Saatchi was requested at board level…”

“An audit is only requested when there are concerns about performance. Did the CEO take action to hold Lonsdale to account?”

Efforts to contact Minister Caesar for a response to Eustace’s comments proved futile.

Meanwhile Beache, in his defence, said that there was nothing corrupt about his move to set up the marketing firm, since he had no plans to return to politics.

“If I wanted to get kickback and be corrupt… I would be an idiot to register a company of the same name as Lonsdale, Saatchi and Saatchi. That company was set up for me for life after politics. If I were staying in politics, I would agree it would be a conflict of interest, but nothing was ever done with the company, except the registration, Beache explained.”

Beache was Minister of Tourism from December 2005 to December 2010 after which he was appointed CEO of the Tourism Authority.