Grenada Today - The National Newspaper of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique

The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of barrister-at-law, Tillman Thomas says it has unearth information that the state-controlled Grenada International Financial Services Authority (GIFSA) helped to finance the controversial June 2000 trip made by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell to Switzerland.

A party official told this newspaper that it was preparing a dossier to present to Barbadian jurist, Dr. Richard Cheltenham who is currently conducting a Commission of Inquiry into the trip.

The Grenadian leader is accused of accepting a US$500, 000.00 bribe on the trip from international fraudster, Eric Restenier for a diplomatic position with the Grenada government.

The american-born Restenier of German origin is currently held in a Federal jail in the U.S awaiting trial on a number of fraud-related charges laid against him. According to the NDC official, it would ask Dr. Cheltenham to call back to the witness stand, the former head of GIFSA, Michael Creft and question him about the agency's role in helping to finance the trip.

"We have information that the tickets for the trip were paid for by GIFSA to the tune of $34, 000.00", he said. He claimed that a GIFSA cheque was handed over to Astral Travel Agency on the Carenage in St. George's for the purchase of the tickets.

The congress party is claiming that the use of GIFSA funds to finance any such trip is "deceptive" since the monies to purchase such tickets should have come directly from the Consolidated Fund. "It would be highly unusual, immoral and wrong for GIFSA to purchase any such tickets", he remarked.

When contacted Wednesday for comment on the allegation, Creft denied that GIFSA had purchased the tickets for the Prime Minister's delegation. "No, no. I am not aware of it. That I don't know about. If I knew about it, I would admit it ... but that is not so", he told GRENADA TODAY.

Creft said that this is definitely a large amount of money and GIFSA could not engage in any such venture. He spoke of the agency being mandated by statute to deposit on a monthly basis all monies collected into government's Consolidated Fund.

GIFSA was set up by Mitchell's ruling New National Party (NNP) government in 1999 to help with the economic citizenship programme (sale of Grenadian passports) initiated by the administration. This newspaper also contacted the manager of the travel agency, Siddiqui Sylvester who could not confirm or deny that his company might have provided the tickets.

Sylvester said that the issue dates back to five years ago and this was indeed a long time. Prime Minister Mitchell informed the nation last year that he had used his own credit cards to finance the overseas trip.

He referred to a Cabinet Conclusion that he would be reimbursed for his expenses in keeping with an offer made to him by Restenier. The Grenadian leader is still to be called by Commissioner Cheltenham to give evidence before the inquiry which has been temporarily adjourned.