Vindication time!!!

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Parent Category: Sept 2011

Category: Week ending Sept 17th, 2011

Published on Tuesday, 20 September 2011 08:12

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Editorial

Regardless of the spin which former Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell has been trying to put on the new revelation by former U.S Ambassador to Barbados, Mary Kramer in the Wikileaks documents on the US$500, 000.00 Switzerland Briefcase incident in 2000, a number of persons on the island can feel vindicated.

It is a most credible account of an incident, which badly tarnished the image of the country by someone whom the population had placed their confidence in to head their government for 13 years.

Those apologists of Mitchell and his New National Party (NNP) have been left dumbfounded by Ambassador Kramer's confidential memo, which was sent to her bosses in Washington in the State Department.

It said, and we quote: "While in U.S. custody, Eric Resteiner revealed to law enforcement officials that he possessed a videotape that showed PM Mitchell taking the suitcase containing US$500,000.

"Resteiner offered to turn the tape over to the USG (U.S. Government) in the hope that this would help him obtain a more favorable plea arrangement.

"Federal prosecutors and FBI agents viewed the tape and confirmed that it showed Mitchell accepting the cash and unsuccessfully attempting to stuff it into his pockets.

"They did not, however, accept the tape as part of a plea because Mitchell could not be indicted as a co-conspirator by law enforcement officials without their first receiving high-level approval from within the USG".

It is a matter for those in charge of the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to explain to the Grenadian people why they have failed to successfully pursue a criminal investigation of the former Prime Minister on the Briefcase affair after the July 2008 general elections.

Clearly, the Mary Kramer memo is in sync with an affidavit that was filed in a U.S court by Resteiner's former Chief of Security, Timothy Bass that he was the one who on the instructions of his boss secretly videotaped the financial transaction.

It was also pointed out by Bass that when he and Resteiner were inspecting the tape, his employer had informed him that he had made an earlier payment of a similar amount to the then Grenada Prime Minister as payment for the ambassadorial job.

In effect, the allegation is that Dr. Mitchell had personally collected a total of EC$2.7 million in exchange for the job. Was any of the alleged payments deposited in the National Treasury, and if not, then why and where did it go?

The Mary Kramer memo raises once again the credibility of former Grenada Ambassador to Brussels, Joan-Marie Coutain who accompanied Dr. Mitchell on that controversial trip to St. Moritz, Switzerland to meet with Resteiner.

Did the female ambassador tell a lie on oath in the Cheltenham Commission of Inquiry?

It should be recalled that Coutain who is now back in the country told the inquiry that she was with Dr. Mitchell all the time and at no time did she see him collect any money from Resteiner.

But here is the U.S Ambassador putting into writing that FBI Agents and Federal Prosecutors had an opportunity to review the videotape, which "showed Mitchell accepting the cash and unsuccessfully attempting to stuff it into his pockets".

Is it too late for local police officers especially the FIU to call in Ambassador Coutain for questioning on whether she might have not committed perjury.

Grenadians, please wake up. History will not be too kind to us.

The national psyche has been badly damaged by the Mary Kramer report.

Can you imagine what the U.S envoy is writing from Bridgetown to her superiors in Washington about our leader.

The Ambassador rhetorically asked the question -  "Just How Corrupt is Keith Mitchell?

And in her own memo, she herself answers it this way: "Keith Mitchell's corruption may not reach the heights of the Bird family, which ran Antigua as its personal fiefdom for decades". 

However, she was quick to add that an arm of the U.S government known as LEGATT in Bridgetown said the following: "... Mitchell, who created Grenada's offshore banking industry largely for his own enrichment and did nothing to reign it in, could be considered more corrupt than former Antigua Prime Minister Lester Bird".

THE NEW TODAY would offer no further comment on the issue except to say that Dr. Mitchell will have to live with his conscience for the rest of his God-given life".

The likes of Nicholas Steele and Alexandra Otway-Noel - the new kids on the block trying to prop up a party that brought so much shame and disgrace to this country, would have to explain to the people their true intentions and ambitions.

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