Two confidential documents have been obtained by GRENADA TODAY linking both Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell and Deputy Prime Minister, Gregory Bowen to the controversial multi-million oil agreement signed with american investor, Jack Grynberg in 1996.
Bowen, the current Minister of Energy, has been denying that he was ever involved in the Grynberg agreement deal prior to 1999.
The U.S investor has filed law suits in Grenada seeking "damages in excess of US$500, 000, 000" against the island's deputy Prime Minister and three Russians for breach of contract.
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| Jack Grynburg |
The latest document obtained by this newspaper involves a piece of correspondence between Minister Bowen and Max Flaxman, the Vice President of Grynberg Production Corporation.
The letter dated, May 29, 1996 was sent to Bowen by Flaxman and pointed out that "many of the most interesting and most expensive areas" for the oil exploration to be conducted in Grenadian waters "are located in areas of border uncertainty".
As part of the secret oil deal worked out between Grynberg and the Keith Mitchell-led government, the American investor was given responsibility to help settle the maritime boundaries between Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
As a public service, GRENADA TODAY reproduces the Flaxman/Bowen correspondence which clearly shows that the deputy Prime Minister was not speaking the truth about his role in the issue:
Minister of Communications and Works
Ministry of Works, Communications,
Public Utilities & Women's Affairs
St. George's, Grenada, W.I
Attn: Senator Gregory Bowen
Dear Senator Bowen:
Thank you for your letter of May 28, which reached me just as I was leaving for Russia. Since I will be away for the next three weeks, I ask that all communications during my absence be with Jack Grynberg in Denver, whose fax number is (303) 850-7498.
I agree with you that we hold the same common principles:
appropriate work must be done, the work must be properly done, and the work must be timely done.
The initial $400,000 is, of course, a minimum, and was selected because many of the most interesting and most expensive areas are located in areas of border uncertainty.
If Grenada's ownership of all of these areas is confirmed, we likely will spend far more than the minimum: if Grenada owns none of these areas, $400,000 will be a very high minimum based on the geologic prospectivity.
Of the smaller area which is conclusively owned by Grenada, the contract requires a minimum expenditure of $2,000,000 for the first two-year extension, which we believe is an appropriate minimum guaranteed expenditure for that two-year period.
We wish to avoid a situation where the government may decide that it is dissatisfied with the promised minimum expenditure after we have embarked on initial exploration activities.
We have suggested that up to $400,000 of the initial exploration commitment may be used to reimburse Government and our expenditures in the border delineation process, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in our written offer to the Government dated December 29, 1995, a copy of which is attached hereto.
In addition, we verbally agreed that we would supply personnel, legal team and contacts to obtain the best benefits for Grenada either through negotiation or the International Court of Justice.
We can add this paragraph to the attached side letter dated December 29, 1995. We know, however, from the experience of other countries, and from your own experience with Trinidad and Tobago, that border delineation is a very lengthy process.
We also know that Grenada and the other concerned States have complete control over both the timing and cost of securing a final border agreement, which would make any third party agreement to fund all costs to completion extremely unwise.
Therefore, we hope that the agreement in its present form, with the changes we have previously agreed upon, can now be signed by both parties.
Mr. Grynberg is aware of our discussions and awaits your reply.
Sincerely yours,
GRYNBERG PRODUCTION CORPORATION
Max Flaxman
Vice President
