De-Risking in Jeopardy 3 concluded at the stage when the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) had reached an agreement with the Gilinski Group, Colombia, to purchase FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited for US $797 million.

It is extraordinary that, even in these times of international pretence and overlooking of deception in the interest of political correctness, the Government of the United States of America perseveres in ignoring the behaviour of one of its smallest and perhaps most determined enemies: the sovereign island nation of Antigua and Barbuda.

Fourteen years ago, Douglas W. Payne of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and author of "Storm Watch: Democracy in the Caribbean", publicly exposed the "Failings of Governance in Antigua & Barbuda".

Yet again another financial institution finds itself under the spotlight in Antigua & Barbuda.

Fifteen months have passed since Her Majesty's Privy Council allowed the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to expropriate the Half Moon Bay Resort, a private property developed and owned for over thirty five years by a group of American investors.

In a recent address to the people who elected him to office approximately 100 days ago, the new Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda, the Honourable Gaston Browne, indicated that it is his intention of leading his country into becoming "an economic powerhouse" in the Caribbean.

"The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the United States Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association (commonly known as the "World Bank'') and the International Monetary Fund to use the voice and vote of the United States to ensure that any future loan made by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda is conditioned on providing complete redress of the matters

Following the International Monetary Fund’s publication of a private letter to its Managing Director from Hon. Harold Lovell, Antigua & Barbuda’s Minister of Finance and Public Administration, it would be beneficial for international investors and other observers to examine a fuller perspective

For decades shell companies and bank accounts in poorly regulated jurisdictions offered sufficiently strong solutions for the majority of international money launderers and tax evaders.

Emboldened by a new interpretation of public use by the UK Privy Council in the matter of the Half Moon Bay Resort, a US owned private property, expropriated by the Government of Antigua & Barbuda, the Attorney General of Antigua, Justin Simon, did not hesitate to seize the lands of master Ponzi fraudster, R. Allen Stanford within days of Stanford's indictment in the U.S.

According to various reports, published in the Antiguan press during the last six weeks, Finance and Economy Minister Harold Lovell has made several announcements that contradict the facts in evidence.

Can a State successfully overcome the public relations nightmare following a disastrous decision to expropriate the private property and business of international investors?

When Douglas Payne of the US-based Center For Strategic International Studies, researched his Report into the Failings of Governance in Antigua and Barbuda as long ago as 1999, he must have wished like many of his readers that his genuine academic work would have raised awareness of the damage being done to the country’s economy, standing and reputation.

The classic film "The Mouse That Roared", starring Peter Sellers, first popularised the concept of a minuscule, innocent Duchy of Grand Fenwick declaring war on the United States of America and the financial benefits which can be accessed by such a challenge.

As Antigua & Barbuda slips further into totalitarian barbarism, free speech has become the next target of a government.

Leroy King, the former Head of Antigua & Barbuda's Financial Services Regulatory Commission has lost another appeal, leaving him with the prospect of the Privy Council as a last resort before inevitable extradition to the USA ...

It takes time and effort for lies to emerge to the surface.

Despite the protestations from Dr. Errol Cort, personal attorney for R. Allen Stanford on Antigua, former Attorney General and former Finance Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, former World Bank signatory, current unseated representative and present Minister of National Security, the latest Financial Regulator in Antigua has been summarily sacked.

Justice and investment moves slowly, if ever at all, in the failed state of Antigua, unless it suits those who control the real levers of power.

Once again, international observers have noted that Antigua & Barbuda is no longer a destination of choice for Foreign Direct Investment.