Mitchell to testify at inquiry

GRENADIAN Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell will appear before the one-man Commission of Inquiry appointed last Wednesday to investigate allegations that he took a US$500,000 bribe from American national, Eric Resteiner, to become a diplomatic representative of the Caribbean island. Grenada’s Governor General Sir Daniel Williams, in a nationwide address on Wednesday night, announced the appointment of noted Barbados Queen’s Counsel Dr Richard Cheltenham as the lone Commissioner. Guyanese Senior Counsel Dr Fenton Ramsahoye was appointed counsel for the Commission. The Commission was appointed after allegations made against Dr Mitchell in connection with a promotional trip to certain European countries and Kuwait in June 2000.

In a statement issued yesterday, Dr Mitchell pledged his support for the Commission and expressed his intention to submit himself to a full examination by the Commissioner. Grenada sources told Newsday yesterday that Dr Mitchell has agreed to appear before the Commission to give his side of the story which surfaced on April 30 in the Offshore Alert newspaper in Miami. Dr Mitchell, in the statement, regarded Dr Cheltenham as an experienced and respected jurist and expects that the Commissioner will adjudicate in this matter with due regard. Although it has not yet been made official, a well-known Trinidadian lawyer has been retained by Dr Mitchell to represent him at the Commission of Inquiry. The inquiry is expected to begin sitting in public later this month at the Parliament building in St George’s.

Thilman Thomas, Leader of the Opposition, welcomed the appointment of Dr Cheltenham whom he regarded as a noted Caribbean jurist. But Thomas, political leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said his party would have preferred the Grenada Parliament to conduct the inquiry into the allegations. Thomas agreed that an inquiry was necessary in Grenada to get to the truth of the allegations. But he said the Opposition would have preferred a three-member Commission comprising members of Parliament. For the inquiry to be worthwhile, Thomas stated that the Commission must hear evidence from three foreigners — Eric Resteiner, the diplomat at the centre of the controversy; the author of the article in the Offshore Alert newspaper; and from a man whom claimed to have witnessed the payment of the alleged bribe.

According to Thomas, Resteiner is in jail and therefore it may be difficult to bring him to Grenada to appear before the 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. 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.