Capital Bank International

In another example of the extraordinary inability of Grenada to oversee and regulate its banking industry in anything other than a manner that appears to be suspiciously incompetent to many in the outside world, a local judge has vacated  the appointment of a Receiver for a local bank, Capital Bank International, on a technicality, notwithstanding overwhelming evidence that it is hopelessly insolvent and awash with financial irregularities and improprieties, and Grenada's Director of Public Prosecutions has dropped fraud charges against the bank's controlling shareholder and CEO, Finton DeBourg, only a few weeks after he was charged; Cayman Islands Monetary Authority Chairman Tim Ridley has warned local directors that they may face an increased risk of being served with subpoenas while traveling in the United States in the coming months, such is the political climate in the U. S.; A federal court in Pensacola, Florida has entered a preliminary injunction barring Pinnacle Quest International and its principals from publicizing tax fraud schemes that have been promoted to customers throughout the United States, the U. S. Department of Justice announced on May 16, 2008; and Mark Watson, CEO of Argo Group International Holdings Ltd., was the highest-compensated executive officer of any Bermuda-based, publicly-listed insurer in 2007, receiving a package valued at $15 million, according to a compensation review conducted by OffshoreAlert's sister newsletter, InsideBermuda.

Six years after its offshore financial services sector collapsed under the weight of fraudulent banking and investment schemes by the private and public sector that cheated foreign investors collectively out of hundreds of millions of dollars, the island of Grenada is preparing to re-enter the OFC market, notwithstanding its reputation as one of the most corrupt, dishonest and poorly-managed countries in the Caribbean; and Meanwhile, as Grenada looks into re-launching its offshore banking industry, it is in the grip of a major scandal involving one of its local banks, Capital Bank International, which went into receivership on February 14, 2008 amid allegations of fraud and insolvency.

Long after the scandalous failures of all of Grenada's more than 40 offshore banks with heavy losses to depositors, one of the jurisdiction's local banks has gone the same route, the principal difference being that, this time, the victims will include locals, not just foreigners. Capital Bank International Ltd., which began operating as a bank in 1988, went into receivership by order of the Grenada High Court on February 15, 2008 following an application from the Minister of Finance, Keith Mitchell, who is also the country's Prime Minister. David Holukoff, the Grenada-based Managing Director of Kroll Associates UK Limited, was appointed Receiver.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Grenada into Cecile de Lisle Barker for alleged fraud and money laundering regarding accounts maintained by E-Cafe Ltd., Micro Systems Ltd. and Grenada Development Company Inc. at Capital Bank International.

A U. S.-based businessman has been sentenced to 34 months in prison for defrauding $1.2 million from clients of his offshore shell bank.Douglas Castle, a principal of Grenada-licensed Windsor International Bank & Trust, was also ordered to pay $1.2 million when he was sentenced on June 25, 2003 at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

A local bank in Grenada whose core business is providing services to the island's offshore sector does not even have a valid license, according to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. But Capital Bank International is still operational because an ECCB recommendation to close it down has been ignored by Grenada's Minister of Finance, Anthony Boatswain.

First International Bank of Grenada founder Van Brink stripped $4.5 million of assets out of the bank not long before it went bust, according to its liquidator.In his third report to creditors dated June 1, 2002, Marcus A. Wide, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, reported that details of the asset transfers were contained "unsigned minutes from FIBG's June 2000 Board of Directors meeting".

Four people have been criminally indicted in relation to an alleged Ponzi scheme involving Grenada that investigators say defrauded at least 700 investors out of more than $39 million. Two of the main vehicles allegedly used in the scheme were Grenada-registered Rahab Trust and Management Company and Caribbean Merchant Bank, whose banking licenses were revoked last year.