Cabinet grants duty-free concessions to named business to operate a funeral home and crematorium

After months of on-again-off-again reports about a crematorium
for Antigua and Barbuda, it appears that the Browne
Administration has made a decision in favour of an entity called
Meyer’s Funeral Home Ltd.

A Cabinet decision – dated Wednesday, March 20; stamped on
April 3; and validated by the Customs and Excise Division on April
5 – grants duty-free concessions and a lease of property to
operate a funeral home and crematorium to this company.

The initial approval, which was granted on March 13, is for
waivers of import duty and the Antigua and Barbuda Sales Tax
(ABST) on the importation of items related to the operation of the
said business – “subject to site identification and report to
Cabinet.”

Sources tell REAL News they find it strange that – four weeks
after approval – no mention of this Cabinet decision has been
made in either the weekly notes or the post-Cabinet press
briefings, given the public interest in the matter.

Initial inquiries could not confirm the ownership of Meyer’s
Funeral Home Ltd.; nor its address; nor whether the Government
has any stake in the business.