YET ANOTHER CARIBBEAN PREMIER CONVICTED OF MONEY LAUNDERING REMINDS US THAT SYSTEMIC CORRUPTION INFECTING THE LEADERS OF THE CARIBBEAN IS UNIVERSAL

MICHAEL MISICK, the former premier of the British Overseas territory of the TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS, was convicted of money laundering and bribery, together with his attorney brother, THOMAS MISICK, and former government minister McALLISTER HANCHELL. Misick's conviction, which follows the conviction of former BVI Premier ANDREW FAHIE, now serving time in a American prison for money laundering and other offenses, is believed to be only the first in a number of future indictments of senior Caribbean leaders for corruption, money laundering and fraud charges.

The East Caribbean CBI states, all of whose prime ministers, TERRANCE DREW, GASTON BROWNE, ROOSEVELT SKERRIT, PHILIP J. PIERRE and DICKON MITCHELL, have all been implicated in illegal activity connected with their countries' beleaguered Citizenship by Investment (CBI and CIP) passport sales programs, are all considered by knowledgeable legal observers in the region to be facing the real possibility of indictment in the United States. Their administrations have been fatally infected by corruption, spawned by the lure of easy money, in the nature of bribes and kickbacks, paid to them covertly by companies controlled by the Peoples' Republic of China. Their unlimited greed and avarice will be their undoing, as they put their own needs above that of those whom they swore to represent and serve.

The deposit of those illicit funds into correspondent accounts at American financial institutions, which violate the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986, and carry a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment, plus major fines, expose these corrupt leaders to the American criminal justice system. Their arrogance, in accepting what they know is illegal compensation, knows no bounds, and we trust that justice will be administered swiftly and universally in time.