PRIME MINISTER HARRIS REFUTES CLAIMS OF MEETING WITH DENZIL DOUGLAS’ ASSOCIATES, ALKI DAVID AND CHASE ERGEN

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May 17, 2019 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – The Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, has resolutely refuted claims being purported from agents within the Opposition camp that suggest he entertained a meeting with investor, Mr. Alkiviades “Alki” David or his associates, who, over the course of the last week exhibited gross disrespect to Prime Minister Harris and the office which he holds.

“I have never organized or in fact engaged in any meeting with either parties,” Prime Minister Harris said in response to the outrageous claims.

“That is a malicious statement and it’s akin to the kind of Cambridge Analytica approach which the Douglas party has taken with respect to matters of the state [which] is to tell the most mischievous lie and hope that the public would believe,” Prime Minister Harris said while appearing as the special guest on last evening’s (Thursday, May 16) airing of the popular radio programme “Straight Talk” on WINNFM 98.9.

Prime Minister Harris made it clear that he does not or have ever had any form of relationship, whether personal or otherwise, with Alki David or Chase Ergen. Dr. Harris, who was at the time out of the country on official CARICOM business, said he was first made aware of Mr. David’s presence in the country after the matter had made international headlines.

“On Sunday last [May 12] I had reason to be at the Park Hyatt [where] I was accosted by a gentleman, who in the end identified himself as Mr. David and we had an interaction for about a minute and a half,” Dr. Harris said while noting that in that short space of time Mr. David struck him as an unstable and unbalanced individual, particularly in the manner in which he approached the leader of a country.

The prime minister further explained that Mr. David sought him out to complain about his arrest at the RLB International Airport for the possession and importation of a controlled substance, to which he responded, “If you come to a country and you don’t know the laws you should consult with your lawyer and the Government.”

It was at that moment the prime minister’s intended guests had arrived and Mr. David left.

Likewise, the honourable prime minister distanced himself from Mr. Chase Ergen, who is also known internationally as Charles Edwards.

“Charles Edwards is a personality from whom you keep 10 miles for Mr. Edwards has shown a temperament that would not encourage anyone to attempt to have even a conversation with him and I have not had a conversation with Mr. Ergen on his visit here in St. Kitts of recent vintage. I have had reason in the past to intervene because Mr. Edwards was the subject of an Interpol investigation and as a consequence of that I had given direction that the St. Kitts and Nevis passport that he held and which he obtained from Denzil Douglas in 2010, that that passport and any subsequent one that he had that they had to be disabled and the Interpol be notified, and we did that really to prevent any reputational damage to St. Kitts and Nevis.”

The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force has since reported that Charles Edwards, also known as “Chase Ergen” of Colorado, was formally charged with three offences on Wednesday, May 15, 2019.

The offences were the use of Threatening Language, Resisting Arrest, and Battery on Police. The offences took place at Park Hyatt, St. Kitts on Sunday, May 12.