ST LUCIA: GOVERNMENT WEAKNESS AND FOREIGN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRIDGETOWN 000210

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/2019
TAGS: PGOV KCRM PREL INRB XL CH TW EAID OFDP
SUBJECT: ST LUCIA: GOVERNMENT WEAKNESS AND FOREIGN
INTERFERENCE POST CHALLENGES TO GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. D. Brent Hardt, reasons 1.4 (b,d
)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) The government's integrity and accountability are
under increasing strain in St. Lucia in the face of continued
tensions within the governing party and windfall foreign
funds being deployed by Taiwan into government
constituencies. With the ongoing economic slowdown
impacting the island, the pressure to accept money from
foreign sources or pursue illicit schemes -- including
liaison with drug traffickers -- for personal or political
gain is on the rise. The main culprits are government
Ministers that the PM has struggled to control and who are
eager to challenge his leadership. Taiwan has ramped up its
financial involvement in St. Lucia in order to tilt the
political balance toward the government, as the opposition
has promised to shift recognition back to China -- likely in
its own bid for funding. End summary.

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Will the UWP hold a Party Convention?
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2. (C) Ruling party MP Jeannine Compton expressed concerns
to poloffs about the upcoming UWP party convention. She said
the party may postpone the convention, due in April, rather
than risk a leadership challenge against Prime Minister King.
She noted that King is still unable to control the various
factions of the party, despite a recent ebbing of the
influence of Housing Minister Richard Frederick as corruption
charges against him have begun to move forward.


3. (C) Kenneth Monplaisir, a prominent local lawyer and head
of the election commission, meanwhile, sees King's weakness
not as a impediment to maintaining power but as an asset, as
the lack of established hierarchy allows a more decentralized
power structure among the various ministers and leads to
ministers concentrating on keeping power in -- and profiting
from -- their own "fiefdom" rather than challenging for
leadership of the party. Monplaisir lamented, though, that
corruption and malfeasance in the fiefdoms were getting out
of hand and the public was losing patience with the
government.

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Official Corruption: Frederick, Mondesir Cases
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4. (C) Customs Comptroller Terence Leonard continues his
pursuit of Minister Frederick for false invoicing. Leonard
told poloffs he is ready to move forward but does not have
the assistance of the attorney general, who has refused to
participate in the case. Leonard claims his office is without
legal counsel and does not have the funds to hire an outside
lawyer to pursue the case. He claims to have been actively
discouraged from pursuing this case further by the PM, the
attorney general and the public prosecutor's office.
According to Kenneth Monplaisir, the case is getting stale
and the public is starting to lose interest, despite the
widespread perception that Leonard is one of the most honest
officials in St. Lucia and that Frederick is widely
considered a 'thug'.


5. (C) Leonard fears that he could be put on administrative
leave and that a successor would be told to get rid of any
incriminating evidence against Frederick. If Leonard could
be displaced for even a short amount of time, the case
against Frederick would be seriously weakened. The new
comptroller would have the ability to release the evidence
and try to dismiss the allegations against Frederick. In a
new turn, Leonard told us that a new deputy comptroller was
installed in his office. Leonard had no input in the hiring
of this individual, who he said has a poor track record in
government and has been investigated numerous times for
corruption in previous posts.


6. (U) As the Frederick case stagnates, Health Minister Keith
Mondesir is being investigated for falsely claiming that his
Bonne Terre residence is part of the nearby Tuxedo Villa
Hotel, in order to qualify it for duty free concessions.
According to opposition leader Kenny Anthony, this is a
serious breach of public integrity, and the opposition has
started a procedure to sue PM King over this violation of
customs duties by a Cabinet level official. Due to the
delays in getting the case started, Mr. Anthony has been
awarded a sum of $935 USD to cover his legal costs.


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Taiwan Influence
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7. (C) According to Jeannine Compton, Taiwan is providing
each Government MP with US$1 million that is ostensibly
designed for development projects, but is actually being used
to fund elections and to personally enrich the MPs. Philip
Pierre states that this contribution and its disbursement is
not transparent and creates a sharp partisan divide between
those constituencies that see the money go into actual
community development projects, and those constituencies
where the money vanishes into an MP's pocket or where
communities represented by an opposition MP cannot enjoy the
bounty. Compton told us (and Pierre later confirmed) that
she refused to accept the money in the ordinary fashion,
forcing the Taiwanese to make the donation to a government
accounting board that would provide oversight to its eventual
use. This makes her, so far, a minority of one in St. Lucia
politics.


8. (C) Taiwan's Ambassador to St. Lucia Tom Chou has riled
up the opposition further by locating a technology center
consisting of 10 Acer computers in the election headquarters
of Home Affairs and National Security Minister Guy Mayers.
This office, in Castries East, is where Mayers (currently an
unelected senator) is challenging Pierre for his MP seat.
According to Pierre, the government has targeted his seat and
is using Taiwanese money to build support. Opposition leader
Kenny Anthony has called for the Ambassador to be deported,
and makes no bones about believing that Taiwan is blatantly
favoring the government and becoming involved in domestic
politics. Ambassador Chou has stated (disingenuously) that
he was unaware of the political dimension of this project.

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Comment
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9. (C) During the current economic downturn, there is
concern that outside money will be able to exert greater
influence in the political process. Public salaries are
insufficient to run an election, let alone maintain an office
staff. The easy availability of funds from Taiwan and, to a
lesser extent, Venezuela has expanded opportunities for
graft. Minister Frederick is potentially a top player in
this game, possibly skimming millions of dollars from a
variety of illicit projects. So far, Terence Leonard is one
of the few to publicly challenge widespread official
corruption.


10. (C) During recent Independence Day festivities, it was
easy to notice the conspicuously large diplomatic presence
from Taiwan and their constant side meetings with numerous
ministers and government officials. The Taiwanese Ambassador
was accorded special access in the Prime Minister's box,
while all other Ambassador's sat in a separate viewing
section at some distance from the PM and Governor General.
Since Taiwan's only interest in St. Lucia is that of
maintaining official diplomatic recognition, they do not feel
any compunction in bribing Ministers and undermining the rule
of law. In the current economic environment, and without
strong leadership at the helm of the ruling party, Taiwan
should have little trouble finding willing takers. It is
therefore not surprising that we have begun to hear that the
opposition is taking money from China, Taiwan's foil in the
region.
HARDT