Government makes progress in ABI Bank matter

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By Theresa Goodwin

[email protected]

At least one of the principals of the former ABI Bank has agreed to cooperate with the government in its bid to acquire the assets of the bank’s former directors as part an effort to alleviate the costs incurred by the bank’s resolution.

 Information Minister Melford Nicholas told reporters at Thursday’s post-Cabinet press conference that one of the principals of the financial institution is in active contact with the government and has demonstrated a willingness to provide whatever information the government needs.

“This is to ensure that all of the strain does not remain on the backs of the government in the resolution of the ABI Bank and one of the principals is in contact with the Ministry of Finance to satisfy those things,” Nicholas said.

A week ago, it was revealed, through the weekly Cabinet notes, that the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda had agreed to have the Attorney General consider moving against the former directors in civil and criminal cases, depending on the evidence uncovered.

According to the government, the action of the directors led to the collapse of the Bank in 2012, its takeover by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, and the intervention by the government after June 2014 to save depositors’ money.

It was noted that more than $300 million had to be committed by the new administration to bring a solution to the banking crisis, which was averted in 2015.

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