Premier Mark Brantley clears stance over allegations made by Philippe Martinez

St Kitts and Nevis: Premier Mark Brantley cleared his stance on the allegations made by MSR Media owner Philippe Martinez. With a strong statement, he asserted that Martinez was brought to Nevis to make movies only, but was allegedly involved in the CBI Programme by the then head of the cabinet of St Kitts. 

Addressing the questions raised on social media, Premier took to his Facebook and outlined that Philippe Martinez was assigned to shoot movies in Nevis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Things happened according to the plan as he shot around nine films in the different locations of the island nation, and everything was going well as stated by the Premier. 

For instance, when a person is assigned to paint a wall of the house, he is first being assessed properly with questions about his previous experience and other working capabilities. Then if suited, the person is hired by the owners of the house. A similar situation was being noticed during the hiring of MSR Media in Nevis for film making. 

Premier Brantley cited that Philippe Martinez was assessed for his work in the film industry as he is filmmaker, and director who created several movies. With the hope of promoting the tourism appeal of Nevis, MSR Media was assigned to shoot movies in the country and the contract was signed with Martinez about the same.  

However, things started taking upside downturn with the interruption made by head of cabinet, Dr Timothy Harris who wooed MSR Media to St Kitts. 

“Everything was going well until my own head of cabinet back raise Nevis and wooed MSR to St Kitts,” Premier added.  

Premier Brantley alleged that he was not aware of the efforts made by him to take MSR to St Kitts, further leading to Martinez’s involvement into the CBI Programme. He said that the entire process featured lots of secret meetings, discussing the massive offers such as CBI applications and other projects.  

He said that Timothy Harris, who had all in control, never conducted robust due diligence checks on Martinez and gave him citizenship applications through underselling practices. During the meetings, the CBI offer was one of the parts as at one point Kittitian Hill and La Vallee was also offered to MSR Media.  

However, even being in government, Premier Brantley noted that he was not at all informed about these things as NIA or Nevi has no control over CBI. The decision related to selling citizenships or conducting due diligence were taken by the government in St Kitts.  

“Lot of secret meetings happened as the courtship unfolded. The promise of CBI was part of the pot of gold that was offered. At one point Kittitian Hill and La Vallee was also offered. As you may know Nevis and the NIA has no control over CBI.”  

Now, the controversy has erupted over the allegations and RICO suit, Premier Brantley asked Martinez about the missing of the name of the individual who brought MSR. He said that after all that and all the name calling and blaming isn’t it interesting that the man has not been sued and no allegations made against him.

RICO Lawsuit 

RICO Suit was filed by Philippe Martinez against the corruption within the CBI Programme of St Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia, while targeting several individuals. According to St Kitts Nevis observer, the lawsuit consisted of two main allegations.  

In the first allegations, Martinez pointed out that a real estate developer Caribbean Galaxy is involved in the underselling of the CBI applications. While the second one accused several key officials of accepting kickbacks and the citizenship applications are being sold without due diligence.  

Further, the media organization stated that if these statements are proven, these activities will be put under the category of breach of fiduciary duties by public officials. Martinez also noted that the corruption with the CBI Programme have also caused harm to his businesses in the form of financial losses, and reputational damage.