The Richard Cheltenham Commission of Inquiry is over.

And it ended with the expected vindication of Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell of any wrong-doing in the wake of allegations that he accepted a bribe of US$500, 000.00 from imprisoned fraudster, Eric Resteiner in June 2000 in exchange for a diplomatic position.

Governor-General, Sir Daniel Williams had set up the inquiry in the wake of a report carried in the Miami-based Offshore Alert publication that the Prime Minister had accepted the large bribery payment at Resteiner's luxury villa at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

The critical piece of evidence against the Prime Minister is the existence of a video-tape of the proceedings that was allegedly done by Resteiner's former Chief of Security, Timothy Bass.

In a sworn affidavit, Bass claimed that Dr. Mitchell collected the money in US$100 bills in a briefcase from Resteiner and that he had secretly vide taped the transaction on the request of his boss.

The Cheltenham Inquiry started in suspicion and ended in more suspicion at the Trade Center at Grand Anse on Tuesday.

GRENADA TODAY has always maintained that the real inquiry into the Switzerland Briefcase matter involving our Prime Minister would reveal itself"all in the fullness of time".

The Cheltenham Inquiry might have vindicated Dr. Mitchell but the unfolding events in the United States could see Grenadians having the very last laugh in the end.

Since the last sitting of the inquiry, there have been so many dramatic developments that would make a primary school kid laugh at the result reached Tuesday by Dr. Cheltenham and his associate, Dr. Fenton Ramsahoye.

The existence of the video-tape is no hoax or figment of the imagination of anyone in Grenada.

There is documentary evidence in a court in the United States that attorney-at-law, Charles Johnson, acting on the behalf of Deputy Prime Minister, Gregory Bowen approached Eric Resteiner and asked him not to hand-over the video-tape to lawyers hired by U.S oilman, Jack Grynberg.

The court records would also show that Mr. Johnson urged Mr. Resteiner to take the Fifth Amendment and not to answer questions on the video-tape after Resteiner had initially agreed to co-operate with the court.

This newspaper does not expect Dr. Mitchell to put a rope around his neck and hang himself through the Cheltenham Inquiry.

If there is no video-tape then there can be no properly constituted Inquiry.

And the State through the Office of the Attorney-General had a responsibility to make the necessary approaches to the United States government under the Mutual Assistance Treaty between the two countries to provide a copy of the video-tape to the Cheltenham Inquiry.

The Sentencing Memorandum involving Mr. Resteiner pointed out quite clearly that the con-man and former Grenada General Ambassador had co operated fully with the U.S court on the issue of the video-tape in an attempt to get a lesser sentence.

It will take a new government to do what is right, necessary and proper to bring final closure to the Briefcase matter involving Prime Minister Mitchell and to put it permanently to rest.

No amount of tomfoolery and mamagism can hide the fact that the Office of the Attorney-General holds the key to getting the relevant people in the United States to co-operate with Grenada in getting at the bottom of the Switzerland Bribery case.

The Cheltenham Inquiry has brought an end to the probe for the time being but in time the many unanswered questions would have to be dealt with at a more appropriate time.

The Prime Minister's two bodyguards told the Inquiry that they did not see Dr. Mitchell with any Briefcase of money from Resteiner. And the Prime Minister himself admitted to the nation that he did receive"me damn money" from the man in Switzerland.

So the Cheltenham Inquiry ended without the groom making an appearance to provide the Commissioner with his receipts of the money that her admitted collecting from the fraudster.

And if Dr. Mitchell has nothing to really fear then he could have seized the opportunity that presently itself in the case filed against him and Resteiner in New York to show the entire world that he is totally innocent of the charges.

This is a most appropriate place and avenue to show all and sundry that the monies received from Resteiner at his villa was"approximately US$15, 000" and US$500, 000.

And it would have also put to rest the startling revelation made by Bass that Resteiner had informed him that the June 2000 payment was the second imbursement of US$500, 000 that was paid to Prime Minister Mitchell for the diplomatic appointment.