VZCZCXYZ0014
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHWN #0210/01 0931642
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 031642Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7284
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0307
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0151

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. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Will the UWP hold a Party Convention? 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Official Corruption:  Frederick, Mondesir Cases 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶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. 
 
 
---------------- 
Taiwan Influence 
---------------- 
 
¶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