The process behind Taiwan’s loan to Saint Lucia was transparent and executed in accordance with a contract signed between both parties, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said on Saturday amid allegations that the money was transferred to a private bank account.
The ministry’s response came after Saint Lucian Prime Minister Philip Pierre said on Facebook that he was seeking to probe how a loan from a foreign government was transferred to a private bank account.
Pierre was referring to the 54 million East Caribbean Dollars (US$19.99 million) in loan financing which Saint Lucia secured from the Bank of the Republic of China (Eximbank) in 2020 to fund the Carribean country’s St. Jude Hospital reconstruction project.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
He said the money should have been deposited into the Saint Lucian government’s Consolidated Fund as mandated by the Finance (Administration) Act of Saint Lucia, adding that someone must be held accountable for the loan’s improper handling.
Saint Lucia’s previous government had secured a loan of US$20 million from the Eximbank to renovate St. Jude’s Hospital, and entrusted Taiwan’s Overseas Engineering and Construction Corp (OECC) to carry out the project, MOFA spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said on Saturday. The Hospital was destroyed by a fire in 2012, he said.
The OECC is a construction company formed by various Taiwanese syndicates to handle infrastructure projects funded by the government in the nation’s diplomatic allies.
Based on the contract terms, the money can be sent to the OECC’s account in Taipei after approval by the Saint Lucian government to fund the hospital’s renovation, Liu said.
The construction company is willing to provide all remittance details for review by the Saint Lucia government, he said.
Liu said that Pierre had told Taiwan’s Embassy in Saint Lucia that the action taken by the Saint Lucian government was aimed at strengthening government accountability mechanisms and financial management, adding that Pierre did not imply any concerns about the loan case itself or the OECC.
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