Prime Minister Harris with Lanny Davis, EVP, LEVICK, former White House special counsel, and US Congressman Eliot Engel
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris said Monday that documents posted on the website of the United States Attorney General, the Honourable Jeffery Sessions are not genuine.
The Prime Minister was responding to a statement by opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) Representative for St. Christopher 2 (Central Basseterre), Hon. Marcella Liburd during the debate on the 2018 Budget, that the Office of Prime Minister Harris had made payments to prominent United States lawyer, consultant and lobbyist, Lanny Davis and another company for lobbying services on behalf of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis during the first half of 2016.
Documents posted on the US Attorney General’s website indicate that a first payment of US$53,000 was paid by the Office of the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis to Lanny J. Davis & Associates, LLC of 1900 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 and the second payment of US$43,000 to Levick Strategic Communications, LP, of 1900 M Street, NW 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20036 for lobbying services.
Both payments received from the Office of the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis were filed in compliance with the US Attorney General’s FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) Report to the United States Congress.
But Prime Minister Harris responding to the disclosure in Parliament for a second time, rose on a Point of Order and accused the Members of Parliament on the opposition benches of “relying on hearsay” and of “going down a path of untruth and mischief.”
Harris said the posting on the US Attorney General’s website “was a concoction and imagination.”
“The Honourable Member for St. Christopher 2 is engaging in hearsay, is engaging in falsehood. There has been not one cent paid by this government to Lanny Davis. She ought not to continue to proffer that untruth,” said Prime Minister Harris.
MP Liburd questioned the denial by the Prime Minister in the face of the evidence, but was told by Speaker Hon. Michael to desist from mentioning that issue during the debate.
She presented Speaker Perkins with copies of the payments as filed on the United States Attorney General’s Office website.
“I have now gotten a copy of some document that is purported to be some official US Government document. That does not necessarily mean it is authentic as the Minister of Finance has said there is no record that the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has paid out any monies. On that basis my ruling is, it stops there until someone can prove the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (Dr. Harris) uttered some falsehood,” ruled Speaker Perkins.
Liburd has accused Harris of misleading the lawmaking body in December 2015 when he stated that the professional services of Lanny Davis was free.
“On December 4, 2015, I was retained by Prime Minister, the Honorable Timothy Harris, Head of the Government of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. We were asked to conduct an independent review of the increased efforts of the St. Kitts and Nevis Government to enhance and strengthen its vetting and background checking procedures under its CBI,” Davis wrote in an article posted on The Daily Caller website dated January 26, 2016.
The New York-based News Americas Now first reported that Davis declared to the Federal Government that he was paid “for services to the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis.”