St. Vincent and the Grenadines did not suffer any reputational damage due to sentencing of naturalized Vincentian Dave Ames for running what a judge described as a “gigantic Ponzi scheme” in the Caribbean.
This is according to Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves who made the statement during a press conference held earlier this week.
Gonsalves said in the case of Buccament it was one of the places implicated in the matter with an actual physical asset.
“Understand this, all of this, the extent of the monies that Dave Ames would have utilized, were not related simply to Buccament you know. In fact, in the case of Buccament, Buccament is the only place that you had a real asset, you know St. Lucia, there was Barbados, there’s something in the Dominica Republic; don’t forget that.
For us, I don’t see this reputational damage, because they have had projects in the United States, people in this or that state, or this or that area of the United Kingdom, people have done things which are ajudged to be fraudulent and the countries haven’t suffered any reputational damage,” Gonsalves said.
Dave Ames, former chairman of Harlequin, the company that owned the former Buccament Bay Resort in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was sentenced in the British court to nine years for one count of fraud by abuse of position and three years for another count. The sentences will run consecutively.