Atg: Lil bit o' pocket change coming

Antigua & Barbuda may have to wait a while to obtain any of the funds that have been released as a result of the conviction of the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, lawyer John Fuller told the SUN yesterday.

Lazarenko was found guilty in a US court on 29 counts of money laundering and extortion last Thursday.

Antigua & Barbuda got involved some three years ago when the Office of the National Drug Money Laundering and Control Policy (ONDCP) was alerted to a suspicious transaction by the Eurofed Bank in St. John's.

At that time Fuller and Curtis Bird, who have been kept on by the UPP government, were leading the ONDCP's legal team.

"We felt however that the Eruofed management made the transaction report in an attempt to exonerate themselves," Fuller said.

The management has since fled the country and the bank went into mandatory liquidation, he added.

Antigua & Barbuda, under its forfeiture laws, stands to benefit from the release of the well over US$60 million.

What a warning to crooked heads of state!