GRENADA's government has taken
over the controversial "$ 26bn" First International Bank of Grenada
in a further twist to one of the most bizarre episodes in the
history of Caribbean offshore banking.
"The Grenadian authorities have finally stepped in, too late, and
are effectively liquidating the bank, after everybody's money has
disappeared," says David Marchant,
editor of the Miami-based Offshore
Alert newsletter, which claimed in January last year
that the bank was suspect.
Only three weeks ago the Grenadian government was still standing by
the bank after a little-known chartered accountant from Yorkshire
gave it a clean bill of health after an audit. He was called in by a
British barrister acting for the bank. Mr
Marchant says the accountant's report "triggered
disbelief". The First International Bank of Grenada was set up by an
American, Van A Brink, in 1998. Before moving to Grenada he lived in
Oregon under the name of Gilbert Allen Ziegler, until going bankrupt
in 1994. He then bought a Grenadian passport and changed his name. |
