Caribbean jurists to investigate bribe scandal

IN an effort to get to the bottom of the bribery allegations levelled against Grenadian Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, that country’s Governor General has appointed a Commission of Inquiry comprising lawyers from the Caribbean. No lawyers from Grenada will be involved in the Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate allegations of financial impropriety against the Grenadian prime minister. Grenada’s Governor General Sir Daniel Williams, in an address to the nation on Wednesday night, formally announced the Commission of Inquiry. There will be a one-man Commission. That job goes to Barbadian Queen’s Counsel Dr Richard Cheltenham, a prominent and highly respected Caribbean jurist. Many will remember Dr Cheltenham when he teamed up with then Opposition Leader, now St Vincent Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves in 1997, to successfully defend Americans James and Penny Fletcher who were charged with murder on the island of Bequia.

According to the governor general, Dr Cheltenham is a specialist in the area of Commissions of Inquiry, the most recent being an inquiry in Antigua and Barbuda into the medical benefit scheme on that island. He was also a member of the Barbados House of Assembly for 23 years, during which he was Minister of Agriculture, Energy, Tourism, International Transport and the Environment. Dr Cheltenham held office under three different Bajan prime ministers but retired from active politics 18 months ago. The counsel to the commission is Guyana-born Dr Fenton Ramsahoye SC, who practices regularly in Trinidad and England. A former attorney general of Guyana, Dr Ramsahoye is also  very experienced in commissions of inquiry across the Caribbean. He appears regularly in the Trinidad High Court and has already appeared before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council six times this year — representing Trinidad and Tobago clients.

Dr Mitchell, who will be the subject of the inquiry, will be represented by counsel at the public hearings. Newsday sources in Grenada revealed that a top legal personality from Trinidad may be retained to represent the prime minister. A public relations company in Trinidad has also been retained as communications advisor to the commissions of inquiry. The one-man commission will inquire into the circumstances surrounding the appointment of Eric Resteiner as a diplomatic representative of Grenada. The commission will also inquire into the criteria employed and the protocol governing the appointment of non-Grenadians as representatives of Grenada.

The inquiry is also to determine the truth of the allegations published in the April 30 issue of the Offshore Alert in Miami that Dr Mitchell accepted the sum of US$500,000 as a bribe from Eric Resteiner in consideration of his appointment as a diplomatic representative of Grenada. Dr Cheltenham is to further inquire into a statement by the prime minister that he received the sum of US$15,000 from Resteiner as reimbursement for expenses incurred by him on behalf of a team from Grenada on official business to certain European countries and Kuwait in 2000. Dr Cheltenham will be sworn into office within a fortnight after which the Commission will hold public meetings at the Parliament building in St George’s.