Antigua and Barbuda's prime minister on Wednesday urged the tiny Caribbean country's lawmakers to approve an emergency plan to seize property and assets owned by beleaguered financier R. Allen Stanford, the island's largest private employer.

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said a special act must be passed by Parliament to seize the roughly 250 acres (100 hectares) of land in Antigua that belonged to Stanford's tropical financial empire on news of a US fraud investigation of the Texas billionaire and three of his companies.

Urgent responsibility

Speaking to reporters, Spencer said the islands' government has an urgent responsibility "to ensure that we protect the patrimony of Antigua and Barbuda."

The prime minister only referred to "land" when discussing the proposal, but Attorney General Justin Simon later confirmed that offices of Stanford International Bank and other properties would be targeted for seizure by the government.

The seizure of Stanford land and assets would help pay the "massive outstanding debt to local suppliers and the continued employment of over 800 employees at a time of global financial crisis," according to a copy of the proposal.

Emergency legislative sessions were scheduled on Thursday for the lower house and on Friday for the Senate, even though Parliament had been dissolved ahead of March 12 general elections.

Fraud scheme

Stanford's businesses on this island of 80,000 residents include two restaurants, a newspaper, cricket grounds, a development company, a three-branch local bank and the headquarters of his offshore bank.

US authorities have accused Stanford of leading a fraud scheme involving billions of dollars, in part through Stanford International Bank in Antigua.

He was served legal papers by FBI agents last week and ordered to surrender his passport, but has not been charged with a crime.

- AP