William Mournes

The Russian criminals behind the Caribbean Bank of Commerce, which Antiguan regulators have been trying to close down for over a year, have put the bank up for sale. A representative of CBC this month sent out mass e-mails offering four different banks for sale, including the Caribbean Bank of Commerce.

Offshore Alert can this month reveal further details about an Internet bank in Antigua that is perpetrating a fraud so crude that it illustrates why the island has developed such a poor reputation in the offshore world. The fraud is all the more disturbing because the bank's legal representative in Antigua is Steadroy Benjamin, who is a Senator for the ruling Antigua Labour Party and is the Deputy Speaker of the Antiguan House of Representatives.

The Caribbean Bank of Commerce Limited, which operates as an Internet bank and appears to have Russian connections, has won the latest battle in an attempt by Antiguan regulators to take away its banking licence and strike it off the Companies Register. But the authorities are continuing their fight to close down the bank, one of whose officers with a heavy Russian accent called the offices of Offshore Alert this month and told us that "you don't know who you're dealing with" after we had started making inquiries about their operations.