St Kitts media report about Choksi campaign funding is ‘a malicious lie’ – UPP says

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The article claimed Mehul Choksi made a conditional offer of financial help (Observer file photo)
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“It’s a malicious lie,” says Harold Lovell, Leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP), in response to a claim out of St Kitts and Nevis about the potential source of the party’s campaign funding.

A March 29 SKN News article reported that Lovell and Indian businessman Mehul Choksi had a meeting during which Choksi promised to fund the UPP’s political campaign. The story claimed Choksi, in exchange, wanted Lovell’s help avoiding charges facing him in his native India.

The article went on to allege that the two met at an unnamed Italian restaurant in Antigua owned by one “Richard Parker,” who overheard the conversation.

According to a release from the UPP yesterday, “both Lovell and a spokesperson for Choksi are rejecting the statement as a lie and categorically deny that any such meeting or discussion took place”.

The UPP said it has investigated the SKN story and been reliably informed that it was fabricated by “a Nevisian … who is a spinner for Gaston [Browne]”.

Meanwhile, a UPP Executive Member describe the article as a “deflection”.

“We are not at all deceived by this concocted regional story,” they added. “This is nothing but a red herring thrown across the trail by a nervous Antigua Labour Party.”

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