Anguilla’s Chief Minister, the Hon. Osbourne Fleming, has explained his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Commercial Bank, a matter that has raised questions in the past.

Chief Minister Fleming

Mr. Fleming was at the time speaking at a ceremony on Monday, November 6, during the Official Launch of the Bank’s 30th Anniversary activities.

He said: “I know it is very unusual to have a Chief Minister as the Chairman of a bank. As you know this has caused some controversy in Anguilla. But it never moved me once because the shareholders whom I work with, and the Government that I work with, know the kind of man I am.

“In [Executive] Council, if any matter arises that deals with the banks, I absent myself. At the Bank, the same thing happens.

“The reason I am here is because Anguilla is a small place and we do not have many people here so we have to double up.

“I recall at one meeting of the Bank one Director saying: ‘I don’t understand what you are doing here. You are not doing anything for the Bank and that you are not doing anything for the Government. All the Government’s business is going somewhere else – not here.’

“I don’t do that. I never did. That’s why I am free to talk and free to be the Chairman of this Bank.”

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News