‘Mitchell wants to clear his name’

THE Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate allegations that Grenada Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell accepted a US $500,000 bribe, will resume in the early part of 2005. The inquiry had to be postponed because of Hurricane Ivan which devastated Grenada on September 7, leaving 90 percent of the buildings without roofs and causing 39 deaths on the island. Grenada’s Governor General Sir Daniel Williams appointed Barbadian Queen’s Counsel Dr Richard Cheltenham as the lone Commissioner to investigate allegations that Dr Mitchell accepted a US $500,000 bribe in consideration of the appointment of German national Eric Resteiner as a Trade Counsellor for Grenada.

Guyanese Senior Counsel Dr Fenton Ramsahoye was appointed Counsel to the Commission. The Commission met for the first time on August 27 at the Parliament Building — York House — in St George’s. Dr Cheltenham outlined details of how the commission intends to proceed and invited the Grenadian public to come forward to assist the inquiry. He then adjourned the inquiry to a date to be fixed — sometime in October — where efforts would have been made for the Commission to interview and record a statement from Resteiner who is reported to be in jail in the United States on money laundering charges. But then Hurricane Ivan intervened and almost destroyed Grenada, including causing structural damage to York House.

When approached at the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain, on Friday, Dr Ramsahoye said the inquiry was not dead because of the recent hurricane. He said the inquiry will resume in the early part of next year after Grenada has had time to get back on its feet. Dr Ramsahoye said Dr Mitchell is anxious to have the inquiry resumed so details of the alleged bribe can be ventilated in the public. He said Dr Cheltenham will inform the public about the resumption of the inquiry, and possibly a new venue for the hearings. Former UNC Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, who is representing Dr Mitchell, agreed that the inquiry will resume in the first quarter of 2005. “The Prime Minister is adamant for the inquiry to resume as soon as Grenada gets back on its feet again. These are serious allegations levelled against the Prime Minister and which have been endorsed by the Opposition there.”

Maharaj continued, “Dr Mitchell wants the people of Grenada and himself to be vindicated. His integrity in public life makes it mandatory for him to be cleared, despite the devastation caused by the hurricane. I am very confident, based on evidence I have seen, that the Prime Minister of Grenada will be exonerated at the end of the inquiry.” Maharaj said the public in the Caribbean is very concerned at what is happening these days.