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St Vincent PM Dr Ralph Gonsalves and his Trinidadian wife Eloise. - Photo courtesy United Labour Party Facebook pageEloise Gonsalves, wife of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, has denied any corruption took place when her family acquired properties at the Victoria Keyes housing development in Diego Martin.
In a minute-long video posted on the Unity Labour Party (ULP) Facebook page on November 13, Eloise, who was born in Trinidad to Dominican parents, said her family did not receive any preferential treatment in their dealing with the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).
She labelled the revelations by Minister in the Ministry of Housing Anil Roberts about her family’s property holding on November 11 as “political malice” linked to the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) ahead of the November 25 general election.
“The political malice has started against my family. But if the NDP gets in, it ends with you and your family. They are attacking Grace Walters (a ULP candidate) viciously and now they're lying about us,” she said.
“Here's the truth. While I love Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with all my heart, I was born in Trinidad and I am Trinidadian with roots in Dominica. After my then 90-year-old mother's property was destroyed in Hurricane Maria, we as a family invested in property in Trinidad where two of my mother's sons and her grandchildren reside.”
The SVG prime minister expressed similar views to his wife.
Speaking on state broadcast network NBC Radio in St Vincent on November 12, Gonsalves described Roberts’ statements as “misrepresentations” and “falsehoods” and accused Roberts of violating his wife and children’s rights as citizens of TT.
He said Roberts was “up to nothing other than political mischief,” by releasing his family’s private information.
He denied using political connections to secure any preferential treatment for his wife and children.
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