ST. LUCIAN HOUSING MINISTER RICHARD FREDERICK MAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRIDGETOWN 001021 SIPDIS SIPDIS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DOJ FOR OIA-ANDREW GENTEIN DHS/ICE MIAMI FOR MICHAEL LAPORE E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM KJUS ST XL SUBJECT: ST. LUCIAN HOUSING MINISTER RICHARD FREDERICK MAY WALK REF: A. BRIDGETOWN 810 ¶B. BRIDGETOWN 749 ¶C. BRIDGETOWN 49 Classified By: A/DCM Clyde Howard for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: St. Lucian Housing Minister, Richard Frederick, returned for police questioning on July 18 as part of an investigation against Frederick's alleged customs violations. Various authorities and observers are concerned that the Director of Public Prosecutions will not pursue the case because of incompetence, and various members of parliament have reportedly threatened to leave the party if charges against Frederick are not dropped. In addition, the chief investigator in Frederick's case claimed to have received a threat on his life. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) On July 18, Richard Frederick, Minister for Housing, Urban Renewal, and Local Government, returned to Gros Islet police station as ordered during his June 18 detention. Police and customs authorities are investigating Frederick and two others for alleged customs duties evasion while importing luxury vehicles from the United States (ref A). The Comptroller of Customs and lead investigator in the case, Terence Leonard, told PolOff that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP),Victoria Charles-Clarke, is hesitant to officially charge Frederick because she is still unsatisfied with the evidence gathered and continues to require investigators to produce additional information. Leonard is also concerned that Charles-Clarke might intentionally be road blocking the case. WILL THE DPP PROSECUTE? -------------- ¶3. (U) Currently, the DPP's ethics and competence are under fire. At the heart of this attack is the case of Marcus Nicholas, one of Frederick's fellow United Workers Party (UWP) members of parliament. On April 9, Nicholas reportedly refused to cooperate with police when stopped for a traffic violation and ran from the scene before he was detained, resulting in nine charges against him. On July 12, a magistrate cleared Nicholas of all charges because his case filed "disappeared." Charles-Clarke admitted that she had the file, but that she was unaware of the date of the court case and therefore unable to provide the prosecutor with the file. ¶4. (C) Various contacts have told PolOff that Charles-Clarke has political ties to the UWP, which led to deliberate mishandling of Nicholas's case. Some of these contacts also stated that the DPP is personal friends with Frederick. However, a prominent lawyer told PolOff that he knows Charles-Clarke personally and claimed that she is an honest and ethical person who would not offend the integrity of her profession. A resident diplomat also confirmed this. Many of these contacts, however, including the prominent lawyer and diplomat, agreed that the DPP is not the most capable or strongest-willed person. POLITICAL DEALINGS AND AN ASSASSINATION THREAT -------------- - ¶5. (C) Two factors further complicate this case. Both Leonard and a news editor close to the UWP told PolOff that the elected UWP members of parliament, save Prime Minister Sir John Compton, recently held a meeting in which Frederick, Nicholas, and the fired Rufus Bousquet (ref B) threatened to leave the party and stand as independents in parliament unless certain concessions were made. Such a move would cripple the UWP majority and make the three independents the key decision makers in Parliament. Among the alleged concessions were reinstating Bousquet as Foreign Minister and dropping all charges against Frederick. Reportedly, the 10 members came to a compromise, but PolOff is unaware of any follow-up action to date. Another complication, according to Leonard, is that Frederick has recently put a ECD 50,000 (USD 20,000) price on Leonard's head. Leonard claimed that Frederick entrusted this information with a friend, who then informed Leonard of the plan. COMMENT: THE RISE OR FALL OF FREDERICK -------------- ¶6. (C) The combination of incompetence and possible loyalty to Frederick make it doubtful that the DPP will successfully prosecute a case against Frederick. In addition, Frederick's personal charisma and wealth have generated support among the general public and especially among members of Parliament, whose political campaigns have received Frederick's generous financial support. There are some who believe that no matter the case's outcome, the resulting damage to Frederick's reputation will prevent his upward climb to political power, but Frederick's ambitions may not be limited to becoming prime minister. According to Acting Prime Minister Stephenson King, PM Compton will likely retire this fall, possibly in conjunction with the UWP convention in October and the UWP may appoint King as PM at that time. Frederick may use this opportunity to assume the role of Minister for Home Affairs and Internal Security, a job he has coveted since the election. Given his suspected ties to narcotraffickers (ref C),this is as much a worrisome scenario as becoming prime minister. OURISMAN