A court in New York has ruled against the government of Grenada in a court case over US$21.6 million in loans and interest owed to a Taiwanese bank, a report on the Web site of the Grenada Today weekly newspaper said on Saturday.
Grenada was one of Taiwan's diplomatic allies before it established ties with China in 2005.
The Grenada Today article said that the Export-Import Bank of Taiwan had lent a total of US$28 million to Grenada between 1990 and 2000 in four loan agreements to facilitate development projects in the Caribbean country.
The money helped fund the construction of Grenada's first sports stadium at Queen's Park in the capital St. George's, a ministerial complex, agricultural projects and road construction projects, the report said.
Since April 2004, however, Grenada has failed to repay certain principal installments and interest, bringing the amount owed to the bank to US$21.6 million, the report said.
In order to recover the money, the bank filed a lawsuit against Grenada in a US District Court in the Southern District of New York on Dec. 21 last year, the report said.
The report quoted an unnamed official from Grenada's Ministry of Finance as saying that the Grenadian government said the country was unable to repay the debt because of economic difficulties caused by hurricanes Ivan and Emily in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
Judge Harold Baer rejected that defense, the report said.
"This matter has severe legal, political, and embarrassing consequences for all of us in Grenada," the article quoted an official from the Ministry of Finance as saying.
Baer urged the two parties to negotiate an out-of-court settlement, the report said.
The bank has been represented by the Boston-based law firm of Sullivan & Worchester, while the Grenada government has been represented by Donzell Tucker, wife of Grenadian Foreign Minister Elvin Nimrod, the report said.
When contacted for confirmation of the newspaper report, an official at the Export-Import Bank of Taiwan said yesterday that it had sued Grenada in a New York court for violating its loan agreement because they were commercial loans dating back to the 1980s and not government-to-government deals.
The official, who wished to remain unidentified, said the loans were designed just like a domestic loan, with the original agreement stating that the repayment period could extend from 20 to 30 years.
However, failing to make payment as stipulated in the contract constitutes a violation of the agreement on the borrower's part and is seen as the early termination of the agreement, the official said. This means that Grenada must pay the loans back in advance, the official said.
The commercial loan had been transferred into one of Grenada's accounts in New York so that lawsuits would be handled under the jurisdiction of the New York courts to provide international impartiality, the official said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS