A court bailiff in Grenada says that Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell has bluntly refused to accept a summons that he tried to serve on him last Thursday in connection with a lawsuit filed against him in a court in the United States.

According to the bailiff, Terry Registe, he approached the Prime Minister with the summons in his hand at a government function held at Cherry Hill in his St. George North-west constituency.

"I went up to him (Dr. Mitchell) and told him that I have a summons here for him. He then said to be, "I am not accepting any summons from you, behave yourself boy and you go get into trouble, boy behave yourself", Registe told GRENADA TODAY.

The bailiff said that he attempted to serve the summons by throwing it at the feet of the Prime Minister but was prevented from doing so by his security detail from the Royal Grenada Police Force. He spoke of the four members of the Personal Security unit, along with the head of Special Branch, Superintendent Anthony De Gale forming "a human shield" around the Prime Minister to prevent him from executing the writ.

"Boy, I just could not serve the writ on the man (Dr. Mitchell) because of the manner in which they surrounded him. I had to give up in the end", he remarked. The U.S lawyers have attempted to serve the writ on Prime Minister Mitchell by sending the documents through Federal Express to his Attorney-General, Elvin Nimrod.

A source close to the lawyers told this newspaper that the layers are also giving consideration to taking out advertisements in local newspapers to advise Dr. Mitchell that the civil suit has been filed against him in the Brooklyn Court and that he has 20 days to put in an appearance.

If the Grenadian leader chooses to ignore the summons, the plaintiff can seek default judgement against Prime Minister Mitchell.
The Grenadian leader has been sued in the United States by a victim of convicted fraudster Eric Resteiner, from whom Mitchell allegedly received $1 million in bribes.

A civil complaint was filed against Mitchell, his wife, Marietta Mitchell, and Resteiner at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on June 11, 2007.

The plaintiff, Charles Howland, of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, claims he and others were defrauded of more than $30 million by Resteiner in a high-yield investment fraud and that at least $1 million of their money was paid in bribes by Resteiner to Mitchell, who appointed Resteiner to a diplomatic position. Howland is seeking to recover funds allegedly paid to Mitchell.

Resteiner is currently serving an 87-month prison sentence for his role in the investment scam. He showed prosecutors what was said to be the video recording of his alleged bribe to Mitchell in a plea for leniency.

An attempt to obtain the recording is currently being made by US oilman Jack Grynberg, who is involved in litigation with Grenada's Deputy Prime Minister, Gregory Bowen, whose attorneys have reportedly been strenuously resisting the request.