PLP candidate on FBI radar

A CANDIDATE ON THE PEOPLE’S LABOUR PARTY (PLP) ELECTORAL LIST for tomorrow’s national polls is on the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) radar following a complaint filed by one of his siblings that might be on his ‘hit list’.

“He told my uncle…he needed a killer. I think that the requested was for me.”

This chilling statement by Ruth Naomi Payne-Bello to the FBI incriminated her brother Stachio Williams, one of eight PLP candidates contesting the April 5^th polls.

Five other political parties: the main opposition St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP); the People’s Action Movement (PAM); the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM); the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) and the Moral Restoration Movement (MRM) are also contesting the polls.

Payne-Bello’s damaging accusation against her brother Stachio, who harbours serious political ambitions, did not originate from the usual siblings’ rivalry, she assured Prime Minister, Dr Timothy Harris, and his Deputy, Mr Shawn Richards, in her missive to them.

Rather, she explained, she penned it to provide “character traits and background information” on Harris and Richards colleague candidate for a post likely to put him in a position to have access to larger financial sums than he is attempting to swindle from his siblings.

“The people of the Federation do not need another scandal or dirty politician,” Payne-Bello counselled.

Family crisis boiled over when patriarch of the family, their estranged father, David Randolph Payne, aka ‘Candy Man’ died intestate in late 2020.

Some of his 12 children never knew of his death until earlier this year.

Ruth, now US-based, has been trying to secure Letters of Administration “to settle the estate equally among all of the children” she detailed in her missive.

In it, she explained when the probate process commenced, some disturbing information surfaced.

Among them was the fact that Stachio “is leasing space in one of my father’s warehouses bottling company and retaining the proceeds for himself instead of allocating the lien that is owed to the bank for the commercial company.”

Stachio also wangled his way into controlling the bank account of a mentally impaired family member who her now-deceased father “had always taken care of,” Ruth said in the letter.

www.aroundtheregions.com has seen a copy of the complaint sent to PM Harris and his former Deputy Richards. In addition, Stachio was also the only sibling in contact with his heavily-indebted and ailing father. Since he was the only family member in Basseterre with a US visa, he had tremendous advantage over the others and used it over them  – and his father.

“Stachio subsequently isolated my father from his family and did not give my aunts…his number or address. Some of my siblings upon request, were denied his number and other contact information,” explained Ruth.

She said when contact was eventually made, Stachio by then had prevented his father getting access to proper healthcare, and was using the aged patriarch’s pensions from Basseterre and the Washington on himself.

She also said in the letter to Harris and Richards, that political aspirant Stachio forged documents to have their father cremated without family consent.

Mrs. Payne-Bello firmly suspects when her brother Stachio visited her in the US earlier this year, he had evil intentions.

“He told my uncle, who also lives on the familial property, that he needed a killer. I think the that he requested was for me,” Ruth told PM Harris, and Deputy PM, Richards.

Fearing for her life, Ruth said she reported “the conversation relayed to me by my uncle to the FBI here in the States. Even though I have not heard back from them as yet, I wanted my concerns for my safety to be documented,” she wrote.

She can verify all her charges against her sibling, she maintained.

Understandably, other siblings are also worried they too might also be on a possible hitlist due to Stachio’s “political reach and the ability for him to use his media company as a weapon against them” Ruth noted.