CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – The St. Lucia government Wednesday said it had received an audited report into the controversial arrangements regarding the purchase of 100,000 doses of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine that left Castries still awaiting the delivery of the product despite having paid seven million EC dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) upfront.
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Phillip J Pierre said that the report will be released “when the government sees it fit,” as he criticized the previous administration for paying the funds “upfront” without receiving the vaccines “up to today.
“If proper procedure had been used to purchase these vaccines, that would never have happened. St Lucia is the only government that paid money in advance. St. Lucian taxpayers are the only taxpayers who are up today still suffering from the recklessness of that action,” Pierre said in a statement.
“The point always forgotten is that it is not my money. That’s the taxpayers of St. Lucia, the people who pay taxes; some of it is grant money that other people’s taxes pay. How can you take seven million dollars in advance and pay to a supplier, and up to this day, the people of St. Lucia have not received their seven million dollars back, and that case now is in the courts of the United States,” Pierre said.
Pierre said he has nothing against the supplier, “my business is the people who took seven million dollars of taxpayers money and went against all the rules.”
On July 1, 2021, the St. Lucia government of then prime minister Allen Chastanet issued a statement stating that along with The Bahamas and Barbados, it initiated a bulk purchase of Astra Zeneca vaccines through Radical Radical Investments, owned by Barbadian developer Mark Maloney, as part of a regional bulk-purchasing arrangement between the Caribbean countries.
“St. Lucia’s contribution towards this arrangement was seven million three hundred and thirty-five thousand, six hundred and thirty Eastern Caribbean dollars and fifty-six cents (EC$7,335,630.56) to secure one hundred thousand (100,000) vials of the vaccine.
“The government of St. Lucia, through the Ministry of Health and Wellness, approved this purchase through Radical Investments Limited, following verifications by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health and Wellness to ensure the supplier’s capacity,” the government statement said.
“At the time of the transaction, there was much uncertainty about the supply of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, and the government was actively seeking reliable sources. The partnership with two other CARICOM countries provided the best avenue to do so,| it added.
Radical Investments had filed a lawsuit against Good Vibrations Entertainment LLC, the purported supplier of the vaccines, and several other businesses and individuals involved in the attempt to purchase the vaccines.
Radical Investments Ltd.’s court claim is that it was deceived and lured into an elaborate scam to advance US$10.2 million for one million non-existent doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
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