HOME	AUGUST 28st, 2004

AUGUST 28

Texan billionaire Alan Stanford will no longer be investing millions of dollars in Grenada under the Keith Mitchell-led New National Party (NNP) government. Informed sources told GRENADA TODAY that Stanford, the man behind Caribbean Star Airline failed to reach agreement with the administration on proposals for developing the Mt. Hartman and Hog Island areas.

According to a well-placed official, the Mitchell government decided to back away from some of the demands that Stanford had outlined in order to attract his funds. A source who spoke on the condition that he was not named said that the american investor was requesting that he be allowed to put virtually his own Customs and Immigration facilities in place.

"We could not allow this to happen. We had to run from that", he remarked. "The deal (with Standford) is over for the time being. That ain't going no way right now", he said. Another government insider said that the Stanford proposal sounded too much like creating "a state within a state", a similar proposal that was made to Mitchell by offshore bank fraudster, Van Brink.

The Mitchell government has been on the hunt for credible investors in recent years following a string of failed projects with questionable investors like Viktor Kozeny (The Pirate of Prague) and Brink and the collapsed First International Bank of Grenada.

Kozeny, a one-time Grenadian diplomat, had promised to pump millions of dollars into the Grenada Yacht Services by upgrading the facilities and turning the remains of Butler House into a multi-million dollar hotel. The Mitchell government has also seen the collapse of the Levera Hotel and Golf Course project and the River Antoine Organic Banana project.