Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda revealed that former Prime Minister of Dominica, Oliver Seraphin, visited him to broker a diplomatic appointment deal. He said Seraphin wanted him to offer money for ambassadorship, but he turned down the offer. He said Seraphin’s offer infuriated him and he literally chased him out of his office.
“Mr (Oliver Seraphin) did come to see me on the 26 of August,” Brown said. “I made it abundantly clear to him that first of all, I cannot appoint any diplomat, and secondly we are not interested. I literally chased him out of my office and that is why Aljazeera could not have featured me about having any discussion about selling any passport.”
Seraphin, who was the prime minister of Dominica between 1979 to 1980, was indicted in a video documentary aired by Aljazeera for selling diplomatic appointments and related immunity for huge sums of money. The Doha-based international news agency secretly filmed Seraphin telling an impostor that he could arrange with the UWP to offer him diplomatic appointment if he would part with $400,000.
Seraphin later denied what took place in the video documentary, and UWP’s Lennox Linton who was also tarnished in the recording denied offering ambassadorship to foreign nationals for money. He called for full police investigation into the allegations.
Antigua’s PM said he was given a letter of introduction to meet with the impostor arranged by Aljazeera for the deal, but he turned down the meeting saying he was not interested. He said that is why he was never implicated in the scandal occasioned by the documentary, even though his country was criticized for dragging her feet at sacking Alex Saad, a former Antiguan diplomat accused of money laundering.
According to Browne, he loses interest in any discussion where he has to do something in exchange for another favour. He added that he does not concern himself with whoever is appointed as a diplomat or the process for the selection, because there is a government department responsible for such appointments in Antigua.
This article is copyright © 2019 DOM767
