Although Energy Minister Gregory Bowen claims that the bribery case brought against him in a New York Court by oil investor Jack Grynberg of RSM Production Corporation has been dismissed, a court document dated August 10, 2007 obtained by GRENADA TODAY Newspaper seems to suggest otherwise.

Bowen, along with Legal Advisor to the Cabinet Hugh Wildman, gleefully announced at a media briefing which was carried live on WEE FM last week Friday that the Energy Minister has been vindicated.

The case stems from an accusation from Grynberg that Bowen solicited a bribe from him in 1996 in order to facilitate a 1996 oil and gas agreement.

The deputy Prime Minister has consistently denied the charge, claiming that he never met Grynberg, much less ask him for bribery payments.

Wildman who first addressed the media said that a motion brought before the court by Bowen's Counsel, Jeb Johnson in the United States to have the case dismissed was upheld last Friday by a female judge in New York.

However, the court document in the possession of GRENADA TODAY shows that the Judge hearing the case only ordered that the motions associated with documents 34 and 56 of the case be dismissed based on time factor, but"the other grounds of Bowen's motion to dismiss need not be reached.

The Justice Denise Cote document also said,"It is further ordered that Bowen's motion for a protective order denying the plaintiffs' jurisdictional discovery is denied as moot." Neither Bowen nor Wildman were able to present or display to the media a copy of the court's judgement.

Informed sources told GRENADA TODAY that Grynberg's team of defense lawyers plan to amend the bribery case brought against Minister Bowen to include conspiracy with Russian oil investors and it is more than likely that the legal battle will resume within the next few weeks.

The Deputy Prime Minister also declined to identify the source that paid his legal fees in the New York case.

"The cost for the litigation is being funded not by the Government of Grenada, and this is as far as I would say at this point in time", he said.

"We went out there, we sought assistance and we got financing for the case," he added.

The Russian investors footed Grenada's legal bill at the recent arbitration hearings in London at which Minister Bowen was part of the delegation that defended the oil agreement against the Grynberg's group.

During the press conference, Wildman struggled to provide the media with the grounds for the decision of the judge in New York to dismiss the case.

He said that a number of grounds had been filed, but the judge immediately felt that instead of going through all of those grounds on which dismissal was sought, it was sufficient that the action was started bad.

Wildman said that throughout the proceedings, the Grenada government maintained that Grynberg's case against Bowen was a frivolous law suit, one that was vexatious and malicious.

"I am glad to see that from our initial reaction to this case, we have been vindicated based on the motion upheld on Friday (August 10th)," he remarked.

Both Bowen and Wildman sought to link a group of so-called"political lawyers" on the island with Grynberg's case.

They claim that Grynberg is being supported and encouraged by"some political lawyers in Grenada who more are politicians than lawyers, who were giving him the encouragement to bring this suit for political purposes." According to Minister Bowen, the ultimate aim of the case against him by Grynberg was for the opposition to gain political power by bringing down the government.

"This is not about Gregory Bowen and about Keith Mitchell. This is about getting power, and to destroy the political leader and the deputy political leader .... (and that) is the only way to get it done," he said.

Wildma suggested that the victory for Minister Bowen in the case"is a blow to those political lawyers in Grenada because they, in my view, were the ones who orchestrated this, and they were using the situation to try to score political points, but they have been dealt a severe blow today with the outcome of this case".