Kalistan

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Her Imperial Majesty Publicly Sacks Finance Minister
"Beiteynese Debt Deal" violates all Kalistani Finance Principles, says Empress
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
February 2, 5643


Empress Lectures Kalistani Legislators during Public Firing of Finance Minister

Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Mary I Ananto, back on the job following six weeks of maternity leave has very publicly and forcefully fired her Finance Minister Alicia Thompson following a finance deal gone awry. She accused the Finance Minister of acting outside of her authority in conducting financial negotiations without Imperial consent, and said what she called the "Beiteynese Debt Deal" could be potential corruption.

"Ms. Thompson has clearly exceeded her authority as our Finance Minister with this plot," said Her Imperial Majesty. "It has all the hallmarks of creeping liberalism, to suggest that our Empire shall assume the debt of a foreign nation and violates centuries of conservative, and carefully guarded financial principles. While we have not uncovered any evidence thus far of any foreign involvement in the plans, we have nonetheless lost faith in the judgement of our Finance Minister and have summarily dismissed her from our service."

The details of the failed deal were fairly sorid. In a regular meeting of financial stakeholders in early December, Ms. Thompson, then Her Imperial Majesty's Finance Minister, approached the directors of Kalistan's two commercial and investment banks, The Bank of Suldanor and the Foreign Investment Bank in Kaliburg. She proposed offering to buy Beiteynese debt, likely from one of the main debt holders in Hutori, Luthori, or from Canrillaise interests. Her goal was to buy the debt and use it as leverage in Beiteynu. She planned to restructure Beiteynese debt, and force other nations to follow suit, thus eliminating the power other nations have by holding the debt.

The Directors of the two banks, who assumed that the Finance Minister was acting on instructions from the Empress, agreed to begin contacting institutional investors to finance the purchase, and agreed to accept a 10 year treasury bond for the debt to be drawn from the Central Bank of Ananto and Kalistan. One of the institutional investors both banks reached out to was, of course, House Ananto's holding company Miramar. Princess Michelle Ananto, Her Imperial Majesty's aunt and head of House Ananto, felt that she should ask the Empress for direction. In mid January, during Her Imperial Majesty's maternity leave, Lady Ananto informed Her Imperial Majesty of the details of the deal, and prompted a call directly from the Empress to the Bank Managers who put a halt to the deal.

"The actions of the Finance Minister would have put our nation on the hook for hundreds of millions of Imperial Rubles of foreign debt" said the Empress in the National Assembly. "We are not attempting to characterize the credit worthiness of any particular nation in any way when we say: Kalistan is not in the business of loaning money at interest, especially money we are unsure of recuperating. This is the kind of thing that economic Liberals will do, and we shall add, this is the kind of thing that will get those economies into trouble.

"Kalistan does not engage in liberal economic practices, and quite honestly, we count it as an embarrassment that one of our most trusted advisors on economic matters would even consider an idea like this, especially when she thought our back was turned and we might not be paying full attention being preoccupied with giving birth to the next Emperor of this nation. We shall recommend a full and public investigation of the financial decisions of Ms. Thompson during her tenancy of office, and we hope that her dismissal will serve as a warning to anyone else who does not remain vigilant against these liberal practices within our Empire."

The public dressing down is not common in Kalistan. This exploded plot is certainly scandalizing and most analysts consider it a black mark against Her Imperial Majesty's Government, as well as the commercial banks in Kalistan, even though they weren't themselves implicated in a conspiracy with the Finance Ministry. Furthermore, it is uncertain what the former finance minister hoped to gain from purchasing the debt. Some guess that the effort might have been a good faith effort to restructure the Beiteynese debt, given the evolving relationship between the Empire and Tel Bira financial centers. Others suspect the real goal may have been to leverage Luthori by changing terms of the debt to pressure overly aggressive nations like Luthori to do so as well.

"We are not interested in the reasons for corruption," said the Empress. "We are only interested in the fact of corruption. Whether the Finance Minister would have personally gained from this proposed deal is also irrelevant. Far more to the point was that she was doing this without even informing us. It's bad enough that we have to exist in a world where other nations take cheap shots at our nation whenever they get the chance. It is embarrassing to us personally that our own Finance Minister, who has apparently adopted a Liberal mindset with regard to her trusted duties, was trying to give them more ammunition against us, and that is perhaps more intolerable than anything else."

The Empress said she shall expect a list of proposed and acceptable replacements for the Finance Minister from the Chancellor within a month, and meanwhile, Deputy Finance Philip Zapato will serve in interim capacity. She also called on the Chancellor to provide new guidance on oversight of Imperial Ministries to ensure this kind of backroom dealing which attempts to sidestep Imperial Authority is prevented. Ms. Alicia Thompson is free pending investigation, but charges may be forthcoming.

@TheRepublic