Following the collapse of the Stanford Empire, a desperate plea for help to the IMF, and the more recent implosion of the Antigua Barbuda Investment Bank, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda has now had to return once again, cap in hand, to one of the most powerful and quietly influential nations on Earth.

Only a few weeks after John Allen Williams (Muhammad), travelling on a fraudulently obtained Antigua passport, was executed for ten murders and other atrocities perpetrated by him in Washington DC, a senior Antiguan parliamentarian has made a shock proposal.

Antigua & Barbuda sets great store on the due diligence it claims to carry out before issuing a passport to a foreign national.

While senior Government officials show-boat around the world, strengthening relationships with despotic regimes and offering platitudes, promises and propaganda to anybody willing to listen, the fragile fabric of Antiguan society, frayed by years of neglect and abuse, is beginning to unravel in its entirety.

Dr. Errol Cort, Minister of Finance, has announced once again that Treasury Bills issued by the Government of Antigua & Barbuda have been highly successful.

Whilst Harold Lovell selectively purports that all is well with Antigua's investment rankings with the Paris Club, and the Government now seeks to launch fresh sovereign bonds, the reality of an international backlash gathers at an increasing pace.

Observers will recall that this is the Commission that oversaw the R. Allen Stanford debacle, which is still arguably the world's greatest bank robbery.

In 1999, the UK and US Government Treasuries both issued Advisories against the Nation of Antigua & Barbuda following weakening of its Money Laundering (Prevention) Act.

It has happened again. A Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda is once again proposing to balance the deficit of the nation’s economy by the sale of 110 acres of the Half Moon Bay Resort property.

Aggression without consequences becomes acceptable behaviour. When aggression is crowned by success it creates a heady and addictive euphoria.

Yet again the Government of Antigua & Barbuda is reaching new frontiers of disrepute.

Although the former Pirates of the Caribbean have been romanticized over time, the reality is that they were gangs of unscrupulous, relentless and merciless thieves.

It would be quite inconvenient for the Government of Antigua and Barbuda if the local press were to report the granting of economic citizenship to a criminal figure or a fugitive from justice, thereby bringing shame on the country's "good name".

"FORBES" enjoys an excellent reputation for investment reporting and forecasting that has earned it respect around the globe.

Robert Coram wrote Caribbean Time Bomb: The United States’ Complicity in the Corruption of Antigua in 1993. His book, published by William Morrow & Co, part of Harper Collins, was immediately banned in Antigua.

Quietly, ever so, quietly, yet another flag is carefully lowered forever in yet another far flung corner of Her Majesty's former Empire. This time, it is Antigua & Barbuda.

It has been announced that Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, a member of the New World Development Limited, a Hong Kong based conglomerate, has joined Replay Resorts Development Inc. as the new saviour of Half Moon Bay in Antigua.

Immediately after Hurricane Luis devastated the prestigious Half Moon Bay Hotel in 1995, the then Prime Minister Lester Bird spoke to its owners offering to broker a sale of their property to R. Allen Stanford, and urging them to accept this proposal.

It is significant that during his recent visit to Antigua, Mr. Augustin Carstens, Deputy Director, International Monetary Fund stressed, "Clearing longstanding arrears would go a long way toward normalising - and facilitating access to - regular financing. This will also help private investment and spur growth".

So, the Government of Antigua & Barbuda is sending a high level mission to the United States to plead, in the face of sanctions proposed by both the House and the Senate of the US Congress, that the expropriation of private property once belonging to R. Allen Stanford and to the long-time American owners of the Half Moon Bay Resort is "factually inaccurate".