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HOME	JUNE 18th, 2005

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JUN 18

The Commission of Inquiry looking into allegations of financial wrong doing by Grenada Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell called its first witness on Tuesday.

It was former Executive Director of the state-controlled Grenada International Financial Services Authority (GIFSA) Michael Creft. He took the stand and gave evidence as to his role in processing the application of American fraudster, Dr. Eric Resteiner as an Economic Citizen of Grenada.

Barbadian jurist Richard Cheltenham is looking into allegations that Dr. Mitchell accepted half-a-million dollars from Resteiner as a bribe to appoint him to the post of Trade Counsellor for Grenada. Creft spoke of Resteiner not making the application for economic citizenship himself but through his agent Marshall Langer of Shuttsbowen, a law firm in the United Kingdom.

Applications were also made on behalf of Resteiner's wife Elizabeth and their son Joshua and they were approved in 1999. The former GIFSA Executive Director who now heads the National Water & Sewerage Authority (NAWASA) was responding to questions posed to him by Counsel for the Commission, Guyanese, Dr. Fenton Ramsahoye.

Creft admitted to the commission that he was the one responsible for facilitating the meeting between Dr. Mitchell and Resteiner in St. Moritz, Switzerland in 2000 where the alleged bribe is reported to have taken place.

He said he agreed at the time to facilitate the meeting between the Grenadian leader and Resteiner because of several calls from the controversial diplomat, as well as his records which appeared to be that of a successful businessman who can bring investment to Grenada.

"I advised Mr. Resteiner that the Prime Minister was going on a trip to the Middle East", Creft told the inquiry. The Commission was told that following his approval for Economic Citizenship, Resteiner then applied for a diplomatic position of Trade Counselor for Grenada.His application was approved in March 2001 and revoked one month later in April.

Creft told the commission that he did not know the reason for the quick revocation of the appointment by the Mitchell government. The ex-GIFA boss spoke of Resteiner insisting on seeing Dr. Mitchell and promising to finance the St. Moritz leg of the trip.

According to Creft, he communicated Resteiner's wishes to the Prime Minister and spoke of Dr. Mitchell agreeing to the suggestion in which he promised to pay for the Switzerland leg of the trip and then being reimbursed by Resteiner.

According to Creft, he became aware that Resteiner was bad news when he received word from Langer that his office was searching for Resteiner since he owed them money. He also admitted that he was satisfied with Resteiner's application for economic citizenship based on checks made by law enforcement officials such as the U.S Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Interpol, GIFSA itself, the Immigration Department of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) as well as the Bahamas Police Force.

When asked by Dr. Ramsahoye as to what had become of Resteiner's file dealing with his application for economic citizenship, Creft could not say but promised to see if it can be located at GIFSA's office on the Carenage. Creft also told the Commission that GIFSA had faxed a letter to the FBI requesting information on Resteiner's background was he was unable to provide a copy of the message that was sent. He could not say what had become of that letter.

Dr. Ramsahoye insisted that the file is important to the inquiry although the police investigator is yet to locate the document. He insisted that if the record was destroyed then it is the right of the Commission to know.