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ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Jun 01 2016 – The main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) has described the criminal charges filed against three of its members, including political leader, Harold Lovell, as “a poor attempt to cover up the political policing practised” by the Antigua and Barbuda government.
The UPP said that the Gaston Browne administration had orchestrated the charges against the UPP politicians in a bid to deflect public attention from its performance since coming to power on June 1, two years ago.
Police have charged Lovell, a former finance minister as well as former education minister Dr. Jacqui Quinn and former health minister Wilmoth Daniel with larceny, fraudulent conversion and corruption in relation to the three Daewoo buses, estimated at more than EC$600,000, that were donated to the former UPP administration.
The police allege that the three former ministers had converted the buses for personal use and had them registered in their names while they were in public office.
But he UPP said it “denounces the continued harassment and political persecution of former members of its administration” and that the ruling Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) administration had orchestrated the charges on the eve of its second anniversary on June 12, to deflect focus from its dismal failures.
“The charges reflect a poor attempt to cover up the political policing practised by the Gaston Browne administration, in full collaboration with the Commissioner of Police.”
The three former ministers are due to appear in court next Wednesday.
