Former opposition leader Michael Baptiste wants Governor General Sir. Daniel Williams to revoke for the time being the appointment of Dr. Keith Mitchell as Prime Minister of Grenada while the Richard Cheltenham Inquiry into his trip to Europe in 2000 takes place on the island.

Baptiste told GRENADA TODAY in an interview Tuesday that this is one of the conditions that must be met in order for him to appear before the Barbadian Jurist who was sworn in last Friday by Sir. Daniel as the sole Commissioner to the Inquiry.

The ex-member of parliament also wants the United States government to assist by providing Dr. Cheltenham with unfettered access to two persons in their custody he describes as key witnesses that can help in the investigation.

He was referring to former Trade Counselor for Grenada, Eric Resteiner, a reputed trickster and his Chief of Security, Timothy Bass.

Government announced on Monday that it has appointed former Trinidad & Tobago Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj as Counsel for Prime Minister during the inquiry.

Baptiste said he believes that revoking the appointment of the Prime Minister is the correct thing to do at this time in order for the inquiry to have some form of transparency.

He pointed out that a public officer in the country who is subjected to any investigation will be asked to go on leave while the allegations made against him/her is being looked into.

According to Baptiste, if and when he does appear before the Commission, he will present a copy of the January 21, 2001 Hansard of parliament in which he made certain statements during the Budget debate.

The former opposition leader told the House at the time that he did not have a son who has 3 million in a bank account in Barbados and that he was not the recipient of a large sum of money in a briefcase.

His comments did not go down well with Dr. Mitchell who called on then House Speaker, Sir. Curtis Strachan to get Baptiste to retract the statement.

Baptiste also called for the dismissal of Special Prosecutor Hugh Wildman of Jamaica on the grounds that he (Wildman) had failed to prevent an inquiry into the trip in the face of calls for a probe by several organisations and individuals in the country.

He charged that the controversial Wildman was seen in the media making statements about there being nothing to investigate about the Prime Minister and the trip and also threatening people with criminal prosecution.

The former opposition leader also said that eyebrows should now be raised as to why Maharaj, a top criminal lawyer from Trinidad, is brought in to represent Dr. Mitchell when Wildman and another local attorney, Michael Sylvester were the ones taking legal action against people and media houses on behalf of the Prime Minister over the months.

Baptiste is also calling for full disclosure as to how much the Commission will cost taxpayers of the country. "The Governor General must not subscribe to three sets of laws, one for the Prime Minister, one for Michael Baptiste and the other for ordinary citizens", he quipped.

Allegations of improper dealing by Mitchell surfaced a few weeks ago based on an article published in the April edition of Offshore Alert in Miami.

The article accused the Grenadian leader of accepting US$500,000 in June 2000 from Resteiner, in exchange for a diplomatic positing as an ambassador for the country.

It was based on Bass' sworn affidavit in a US Court in which he claimed that he had filmed the transaction on the instructions of Resteiner.

Dr. Mitchell denied in a radio and television broadcast that he received $500, 000 U.S from the trickster but said that Resteiner handed him "approximately $15, 000 U.S" to cover the cost of a promotional trip to several European States and Kuwait.