OUR QUESTIONS ABOUT A USD$200,000 PAYMENT IN ST. LUCIA SIMPLY CANNOT WAIT FOR THE END OF CARNIVAL

If you read our prior article, HOW ST. LUCIA VIOLATED AMERICAN SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA AND PLAYED THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT, you know that we have in hand a complete set of documents that were used to apply under St. Lucia's citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) program in late 2022. The reason we published that article is that the applicant was a citizen of the Russian Federation, notwithstanding that a ban had existed on sales of any CBI products to Russians, due to the United States sanctions on Russia, which prohibited the deposit of any US Dollars from Russians into American banks, as St. Lucia has correspondent accounts, into which it places payments from CBI applicants. We have all the application forms, Russian passport and birth certificate, and applicant's CV, for one Alexander Tugushev, whose application was duly accepted for processing by the St. Lucia CIP Unit, together with a check drawn on the Bank of St. Lucia's New York correspondent account at the Bank of New York Mellon, notwithstanding the ban. What's wrong with this picture?

Therefore, we have a number of questions, which we are hereby directing at Deputy Prime Minister Ernest Hilaire, CIP Chairman Lorne Theophilus, and attorney Thaddeus Antoine:
(1) Did Mr. Theophilus meet with a Panamanian courier, Carlos Benitez, arriving from Antigua, who delivered USD$200,000 in cash?
(2) Did Theophilus and Benitez then bring the Russian national, Alexander Tugushev, to a meeting at the offices of Antoine, to complete his CBI application?
(3) Why would attorney Antoine even try to process a Russian citizen for CBI, in the middle of US sanctions, and the CIP ban?
(4) What was the role of Minister Hilaire in all that intrigue?
(5) How was the cash divided up, and to whom?
(6) Why are these gentlemen now asking Tugushev for an additional USD$100,000 in cash?

These are best questions for an outside, independent investigator to determine. The people of St. Lucia deserve straight answers, as they are the constituents of these officials, so that they can take whatsoever action they deem necessary and proper to insure that justice is done. The findings of fact should also be submitted to the U.S. State Department for appropriate action regarding the sanctions violations.