RAISE COUNTRY RISK ON GRENADA FORTHWITH

The recent flap in the East Caribbean State of Grenada is extemely troubling. The abrupt termination of funds being sent into the island from the United States, which resulted in confirmation that the government is indeed using German spyware to monitor all communications among Grenadians operates as an automatic increase in Country Risk for that Caribbean nation. If foreign investors, North American compliance officers, journalists and businessmen must fear that their private commnications will be reviewed, in real-time, and possibly acted upon to the damage and detriment of the caller, then Grenada poses a danger that cannot be mitigated.

When you add to that the increased presence of what appear to be a substantial  number of Russian organized crime elements as investors in Grenada, the arrival of a controversial CBI developer, and the government's refusal to prosecute SOREN DAWODY, who defrauded foreign CBI investors to the tune of $ 19.25m, you have a perfect storm of high risk that cannot be ignored.

Under the circumstances, compliance officers at international banks who are charged with calculating Country Risk should seriously consider raising it to an elevated level at this time, Furthermore, they should cease and desist from contacting any Grenada sources by unsecured commnications, when conducting Enhanced Due Diligence investigations, as their inquiries may be monitored and communicated to financial criminals, or government officials, for illicit gain.