IN DUE DILIGENCE CHECKS, BEWARE CARIBBEAN MEDIA; MOST OF IT IS GOVERNMENT-CONTROLLED OR GOVERNMENT-INFLUENCED AND DISPLAYS THE TRUTH THROUGH A ROSE-COLORED PERSPECTIVE

 

When I wrote my most recent articles exposing money laundering and corruption on the St. Kitts Economic citizenship passport sales scandal, the local SKN media rushed no less than thirteen articles out in two days, all of which extolled the virtues of the Kittitian CBI program; how its due diligence was exemplary, how the program was improving the future of all the residents of the two-island nation, and how everyone should be eternally grateful that it existed.

There is not an iota of factual accuracy in any of it, and the articles, every one of them, totally ignored the unfolding scandal, which threatens to bring down the current government in power, and probably cause American banks to terminate all correspondent relationship with indigenous banks, plunging the country's already fragile economy into chaos and confusion. Their masters desperately want to cling to political power, and stay in office, and to do that they must deceive their constituents, hence the propaganda machine spewing out drivel and pro-administration material, most of it false.

Compliance officers must always remember that these Caribbean media outlets operate in only partial democracies, where government advertising often keeps the newspaper alive financially, and where the party in power can use cooperating courts to shut down any media it deems histole to its interests. Yes, there are a precious few who do deal in truth, and if you are fortunate enough to encounter them, their content is to be prized and retained, but as a general rule, and with those few trustworthy exceptions, Caribbean online and brick-and-mortar newspapers are going to give you skewed, and therefore inaccurate information. Please go elsewhere when performing due diligence.