The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) says it was not party to the sale agreement of the three aircraft formerly operated by the defunct LIAT 1974 Ltd, dba LIAT (Antigua and Barbuda), over which it holds mortgages. Its only role, it underlined, is to provide the necessary consent for the sale, which it has already done.

The bank said this in response to Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s comments, who has urged the CDB to release USD12.1 million reportedly held in escrow at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and pay LIAT’s former employees who are still waiting for their severance payments after the carrier ceased operations.

“I’m calling on all of the shareholding governments of LIAT (1974) Limited to subordinate their interest in that money and also the Caribbean Development Bank too to subordinate their interest and to make the USD12 million available to the former workers of LIAT as an ex-gratia payment in lieu of the severance that would have been payable,” Browne said, as quoted by local media.

In a statement, the bank said: “An Aircraft Sale Agreement, for the sale of the three aircraft over which the Caribbean Development Bank holds mortgages, has been executed between the Administrator for LIAT (1974) (as the seller) and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda (as the buyer). CDB is not a party to the sale agreement. CDB’s only role is to provide the necessary consent for the sale, which it has done. [...] CDB is not involved in the financing or any aspect of the operations of LIAT 2020.”

According to the bank, the shareholders of the former LIAT (the governments of Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines) had approved that the money from the sale of the three aircraft “should be proportionately allocated towards paying outstanding balances on the CDB loans” made initially by the bank to the governments to support the carrier’s operations, and that a decision on the use of the sale proceeds rests with the shareholders.

The three aircraft are ATR42-600s, V2-LID (msn 1006), V2-LIF (msn 1008), and V2-LIG (msn 1009), all of which are stored at Antigua, all of which are destined to be used by nascent carrier LIAT (2020) Ltd.