China Eximbank provides RMB 65 million government concessional loan for Mount St. John Medical Center Construction Project

The Mount St. John Medical Center Construction Project originally received a $29 million loan from Stanford Financial Group Ltd in 1999, but a conflict with the lender left the project stranded. The Government of Antigua and Barbuda subsequently applied for a loan from China Eximbank. China Eximbank was initially hesitant to issue the loan since the Government of Antigua and Barbuda stopped paying its debts in 2003 and accumulated RMB 12 million in arrears. However, it was eventually agreed that China Eximbank would issue the loan for the Mount St. John Medical Center Construction Project if the Government of Antigua and Barbuda paid off its arrears by May 1, 2006. On March 14, 2005, the Export-Import Bank of China and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda signed an RMB 65 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the Mount St. John Medical Center Construction Project. The GCL carried the following borrowing terms: an interest rate of 2%, a maturity of 21 years, and a grace period of 5 years. The GCL’s final maturity date is March 21, 2026. The proceeds of the GCL were to be used by the borrower to finance a commercial contract with China National Complete Plant Import Export Corporation (COMPLANT). The purpose of the project was to construct a 185-bed general hospital in Michael's Mount within St John’s. The hospital has four floors and covers 40,000 square meters. It was built in accordance with US standards and has a helicopter pad. It provides general outpatient and inpatient diagnosis and treatment services, including surgery, internal medicine, gynecology, and pediatrics. COMPLANT was the contractor responsible for implementation. A formal handover ceremony for the medical center took place on December 16, 2008. An opening ceremony was held on February 16, 2009.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Mount St. John Medical Center Project. The Chinese project title is 圣约翰医疗中心 or 圣约翰医疗中心项目. 2. Stanford Financial Group Ltd was owned by Allen Stanford. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda partnered with Stanford Financial Group Ltd and others in the construction of the new Mount St. John Medical Centre. As part of the partnership, Government of Antigua and Barbuda sought, and received, a $28 million loan from Stanford Financial Group Ltd for the hospital’s construction costs. The funds that Stanford Financial Group Ltd made available to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for construction of the hospital were proceeds from the Stanford Enterprises, including funds that were fraudulently stolen. Allen Stanford was appointed as the Chairman of the Board of the hospital. Subsequently, an independent commission tasked with investigating allegations of corruption in the building of the hospital determined that the Government of Antigua and Barbuda had promised to repay the $28 million loan to Stanford Financial Group Ltd with funds that were taken directly from the government’s social security system. Thus, the purported ‘loan’ agreement was actually a fraudulent scheme between Antigua and Stanford designed to use $28 million of proceeds from the Stanford Enterprises to enable the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to loot its own social security system. As a result of the commission’s report, Allen Stanford resigned from the hospital’s Board of Directors. On June 14, 2012, Allen Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison. He was convicted on 13 felony counts in 2012 related to a $7 billion ponzi scam that defrauded thousands of investors

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16

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19