'Don't mislead St Lucia' – Opposition warns Invest St Lucia and CIU

The Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) has called on Invest Saint Lucia and the Citizenship by Investment Unit to ensure they are not used by the governing party to “mislead the people”.

Their comments come after the a joint statement was issued by the two organisations following claims that the Desert Star Holdings (DSH) project was rejected by them.

They deny this, with the press release stating that the Citizenship by Investment Unit and Invest St Lucia “never recommended to the cabinet that the DSH project not be approved.”

The SLP have highlighted that it took the government one week to respond, and rather than present the joint statement in a press conference – where the press can question the chairman of the bodies – the response was issued via a press release.

“The UWP wants to engage in spin and semantics over whether it was ‘not rejected’ rather than accept that ‘it was not approved’,” the opposition party said.

“The SLP stands by its statement that the professional staff at Invest Saint Lucia and CIP charged with the responsibility to review the DSH submission DID NOT approve the submission, DID NOT make a recommendation to accept the DSH proposal and the prime minister was so informed.

“No amount of behind the scenes arm-twisting over the last seven days will change that fact.”

The DSH is a major project that will have significant consequences for Saint Lucia today and in the future should it fail, the SLP added.