That's the word used by opposition Senator Arley Gill to describe a statement put out over the weekend by the Office of the Prime Minister in relation to another multi-million dollar court judgement against the Grenada Government.

A Judge in London has ordered the ruling New National Party (NNP) administration of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell to pay an estimated $EC17.1 million for non-payment of a loan in connection with the controversial Ritz Carlton/Mt. Hartman hotel in the south of the island.

Fortis Bank of Belgium had sued the government in St. George's and American national, Ekram J. Miller over their failure to repay the financial institution monies loaned to them with respect to the hotel project.

Miller had managed to get the Grenada government in 2000 to sign a guarantee for the loan and moved quickly to make a number of drawn-downs from Fortis Bank.

The State acknowledged last Friday in a release that it had lost the case but gave tax payers assurances that it would not be a burden on the country since government is presently in discussions with another developer for the project. The release said that on completion of the negotiations, the sum owed to Fortis would be liquidated.

"During negotiations with the Bank, Government was assured of a moratorium, contingent upon a closing agreement with the new developer, during which time Hurricane Ivan struck Grenada, and therefore, over the passage of time, the Bank proceeded to obtain judgment in the matter", the Mitchell government was quoted as saying in the release.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference Tuesday, Sen. Gill called on Prime Minister Mitchell to apologise to the Grenadian people and to immediately tender his resignation for attempting to deceive them on the Mt. Hartman issue.

Reporters were shown a copy of the deed with Dr. Mitchell's signature that allegedly transferred the title of the lands at Mt. Hartman to Miller. He made reference to the letter from Finance Minister Anthony Boatswain that assured the court in London that the 2003 General Elections were responsible for the delay in negotiations with the developer hence the delay in payments.

Gill, a barrister-at-law by profession, insisted that for the government to now say that hurricane Ivan was responsible for the delay clearly demonstrates NNP's attitude towards litigation in the Court involving the State.

He pointed out that attorneys for Fortis Bank wrote government and informed them about two hearings, one in August and the other in November but that the State did not put in any defence.

Gill described the actions of the Mitchell government on the multi-million dollar court case as negligent, careless, callous and showing a lack of respect for the assets of the country. He also dismissed as "nonsense" the release of the government that claimed the judgement would not be a direct burden on tax payers.

Sen. Gill said the information in the possession of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party is that a local law firm had already been retained by Fortis Bank to enforce the judgement on the Grenada government.