PM Gonsalves recalls investor visited his official residence

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC — Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has admitted that an investor whose company is the focus of a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) investigative programme visited his official residence twice, contrary to what he told the media in February. The admission in a March 7 letter to Matthew Chapman, producer of a BBC programme being made about Harlequin Property, owners of Buccament Bay Resort here, also contradicts Gonsalves statements that he has never met Ames in the absence of his lawyer, Samuel E. Commissiong. Gonsalves said that he had no recollection of Ames’ visit to the Official Residence of the Prime Minister and had to be reminded by his wife, Eloise. But he insisted that he had no encounter with Ames anywhere “involving money whether being left by itself or ‘changing hands’, in June 2011 or at any time or anywhere”.