Eustace says why he told about PM’s mother’s BLA withdrawal
Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace says he cannot encourage others to keep their money at the St Vincent Building and Loan Association (BLA),{{more}} knowing that money was withdrawn from an account the prime ministerâs mother held at the institution.
Last Saturday, while addressing a town hall meeting at the Friends of Crown Heights Centre in Brooklyn, New York, Eustace told the audience that he was annoyed when he discovered that the account, belonging to Theresa Francis, mother of Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, was revoked in the third quarter of 2012.
At a New Democratic Party press conference in February, Eustace disclosed that over EC$1 million had been withdrawn from Francisâ account.
Eustace said that the prime ministerâs bid to encourage investors to keep their money at the institution was all for a show.
âI cannot tell people to keep your money there for a while, when the prime ministerâs motherâs account is revoked. My conscience wonât allow me to do that.
âThat is why I made the statement. I was criticized by a lot of people, but I donât mind that; it should not have happened at all,â Eustace stated.
âAnd all this dressing up of going in to put in $21,000 is a lot of foolishness, it was an act of deceit in relation to the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and I cannot support that,â Eustace added.
On February 4, on the first working day after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) took over management and control of the BLA, Gonsalves placed $20,000 in a special deposit account and bought $1,000 in shares at the BLA, in the name of his daughter Soleil.
The Opposition Leader, in his address in New York last Saturday, also questioned the move by the FSA, to extend the waiting period for special withdrawals.
The FSA, which regulates non-banking financial institutions in SVG, since taking over the Association, extended that waiting time from three to six months.
âThose who wish to withdraw their money when will they get it? Thatâs the question.
âAnd two, if the money is withdrawn and depending on how much is withdrawn, what will Building and Loan be doing afterâ¦.â
Eustace said that his position, given the circumstances, is that each person would have to decide what they are going to do with their investments at the Association.
âEvery individual has to make their own judgment, as to what they want to do with their resources. I canât do anything about that,â he said.
On February 11, the Prime Minister said that he was not aware that the money in his 93-year-old motherâs account had been withdrawn by his brothers Gregory and Alban, whose names were on the account. He told SEARCHLIGHT in an interview, that after checking with his brothers, he learned that the money was withdrawn on October 1, 2012.
Gonsalves publicly urged his brothers, and others who had withdrawn money, to consider returning some or all to the institution. On March 11, Gonsalvesâ older brother Gregory, opened a special deposit account of $250,000 at the BLA.
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