After securing a retainer fee of quarter million E.C dollars from the Grenada government, the U.S law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, have filed the defense for Deputy Prime Minister, Gregory Bowen who is facing bribery allegations in a New York district court.

Bowen, the Grenada Minister of Energy, is sued along with Russians Mikhail Fridman, Len Blavatnik, and Lev Korchagin for damages amounting to US$500 million by american oil investor Jack Grynberg over a controversial 1996 oil and has exploration agreement.

Grynberg who is associated with RSM Production Corporation and Grynberg Petroleum Company, landed the agreement with the Keith Mitchell-led New National Party (NNP) government within months of coming into office in June 1995.

The law firm branded the action of Grynberg as nothing but a crude and improper attempt to pressure the Government of Grenada to settle its dispute with these plaintiffs, by making a host of false and irresponsible allegations against the Government's Deputy Prime Minister in the U.S. Courts, all of which have been repeated in the Grenadian press.

The lead plaintiff in this lawsuit is Jack Grynberg. Grynberg is notorious on a national scale for filing baseless lawsuits and using litigation as a tactic to advance business interests and bully adversaries, said Bowen's lawyers.

Grynberg is claiming that Bowen conspired with the three Russians to prevent him from executing his agreement. The Mitchell government has publicly acknowledged accepting over 2 million U.S dollars as a gift from a Russian concern for oil-rated matters.

As a public service, GRENADA TODAY has decided to publish in parts, the defense that was filed in the New York court by the american law firm on behalf of Minister Bowen.

Part 1:

Preliminary Statement

This action against defendant Gregory Bowen should be dismissed for at least the following five reasons:

First, Bowen is the Deputy Prime Minister of the sovereign nation of Grenada, and this lawsuit addresses actions he took within the scope of his official duties.

He is immune from suit in this country pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Accordingly, the Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction to hear the claims against him.

Second, this Court lacks personal jurisdiction over Minister Bowen, a citizen and resident of Grenada.

On the face of their complaint, plaintiffs do not even allege facts that come close to establishing personal jurisdiction under New York law, or the minimum contacts or reasonableness necessary to establish personal jurisdiction consistent with the U.S. Constitution.
Third, this Court lacks personal jurisdiction over Minister Bowen Because plaintiffs failed to serve him by any of the means set forth in 1608 of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

Proper service under 1608 is a prerequisite for personal jurisdiction over a foreign state in the U.S. Courts. Fourth, this action against Minister Bowen is barred by the applicable statute of limitations.

On the face of their own allegations, plaintiffs' supposed claims against Bowen accrued in September 1996, or August 2004 at the very latest.

This action was commenced November 1, 2006. Under the applicable Colorado two-year statute, the action is barred.

Fifth, assuming the Court has jurisdiction, it should dismiss this action and compel arbitration. An arbitration agreement exists between plaintiff RSM Production and the Government of Grenada. In fact, RSM itself has already filed an arbitration against Grenada with the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.

In both that arbitration and this lawsuit, the issue is Grenada's refusal to award RSM a license to explore for oil and natural gas in the off-shore waters of Grenada.

In the arbitration, the tribunal is (as of this writing) considering Grenada's request that RSM be directed to dismiss this lawsuit. This lawsuit is a blatant end-run around that pending international arbitration, which is scheduled for hearing in June 2007.

In all, this lawsuit is a crude and improper attempt to pressure the Government of Grenada to settle its dispute with these plaintiffs, by making a host of false and irresponsible allegations against the Government's Deputy Prime Minister in the U.S. Courts, all of which have been repeated in the Grenadian press.

The lead plaintiff in this lawsuit is Jack Grynberg. Grynberg is notorious on a national scale for filing baseless lawsuits and using litigation as a tactic to advance business interests and bully adversaries.

A search of Grynberg's name using Lexis/Nexis CourtLink identifies him as a plaintiff in at least 160 Federal and State actions, which include 73 separate qui tam actions under the False Claims Act against almost every company in the natural gas industry.

In dismissing almost all the claims in the qui tam actions the Federal Court in Wyoming referred to Grynberg's odious tactics and determined that he deliberately made sweeping allegations of fraud.....based in large part on rank speculation.

This court, too, should not permit itself to be used as a weapon in Jack Grynberg's arsenal for fighting his numerous battles. The Court should dismiss the claims against Minister Bowen.


The Parties

Plaintiffs are in the business of oil and gas exploration. Plaintiff Jack Grynberg is President of plaintiff Grynberg Petroleum company and CEO of plaintiff RSM Production Corporation. Plaintiffs are all based in Colorado.

Defendant Gregory Bowen is Deputy Prime Minister of Grenada, a tiny country of just under 100,000 people on an island just off the coast of Venezuela.

Bowen is also Grenada's Minister of Agriculture and Energy. Minister Bowen is a citizen and resident of Grenada. He owns no real property in New York (or anywhere in the United States), owns no stock in any U.S. Corporation and neither conducts nor solicits business in New York.

 Except for occasional travel through or to New York to see family, visit a physician or otherwise, Bowen has virtually nothing to do with New York.

The Underlying Dispute

At the heart of this dispute is plaintiff Grynberg's efforts over the last 11 years to convince the Government of Grenada to permit him to explore for oil and natural gas in waters off the coast of Grenada.

In July 1996, the Government entered into a written agreement with Grynberg's company, RSM.

In substance, this Agreement contemplated that the Government would issue a license to RSM to explore for and develop oil and natural gas resources that might be found under Grenada's waters.
 The Agreement itself did not grant RSM a license to explore for oil. Rather, Article 3.1 of the Agreement stated that as soon as possible but in no event later than 90 days from the Agreement, RSM shall apply for an exploration license, and the Government will grant RSM such a license.

At the time of the Agreement, Grenada had no confirmed oil and gas resources, and no prior experience with oil and gas exploration. Also, at the time of the Agreement Grenada's maritime boundaries with its neighbors Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago had not been demarcated and needed to be negotiated.

RSM did not apply for the license in 1996, or at any time over the next eight years. Almost immediately after the Agreement was signed, RSM invoked the force majeure clause in the Agreement, based on the excuse that Grenada first needed to engage in boundary delimitation negotiations with its neighbors.

This had the effect of stalling all meaningful exploration by RSM until Grenada resolved its boundary disputes.This stalemate remained in place for the next eight years. Meanwhile, relations between Grynberg and the Grenadian Government turned ugly. Grynberg insisted on bullying his way into the boundary negotiations.

By 1998, Venezuelan officials requested that Grynberg be excluded from the negotiating team, because his presence was hindering the process. Grynberg persisted in his attempts to intrude in the negotiations, claiming repeatedly that he had numerous contacts with the U.S. State Department and elsewhere who could exert influence on Venezuela.

Grynberg told Grenada that he was seeking the U.S. Government's intervention in the Venezuela-Grenada discussions. In January 2001, Minister Bowen wrote to Grynberg and made clear that Venezuela wants no contact or involvement of any person except Grenada Government Officials in the boundary delimitation process with Grenada.

On March 27, 2001, Grynberg wrote again to Minister Bowen and claimed excellent contacts with the Bush Administration, and enclosed a photo of himself with President Bush to make the point.
In April 2001, Minister Bowen wrote to Grynberg and told him again that his efforts to interfere in the diplomatic process were counterproductive: the Republic of Venezuela is well aware of your trying to influence the process through certain channels and has exceedingly strong objections to your or any other participation. Grynberg also sought to inject himself into Grenada border negotiations with Trinidad and Tobago.

At one point in October 2002, Grynberg even took it upon himself to commence an arbitration on behalf of Grenada in the International Tribunal of the Law and the Sea against Trinidad and Tobago.

After the fact, Grynberg wrote to the Prime Minister and requested authority to proceed on the Government's behalf. No such authority was granted. In January 2003, Grynberg hired an English company, Thales, to conduct seismic surveys in Grenadian waters. Thales then applied to the Government for permission to explore, which was denied .

Grynberg responded with an angry letter to Prime Minister Mitchell, in which he basically said that he intended to trespass in Grenadian waters whether the Government liked it or not. The letter is extraordinary for its bullying tone and outlandish claims:

Dr. Mitchell, this obstructive approach by Minister Bowen will no longer be tolerated. I intend to bring a Russian seismic ship and conduct seismic work offshore Grenada, this year. This ship will also fly an American flag, because RSM is an American company and I have been assured by my State Department that I will have the protection of the United States Navy. But, most importantly, I will have this situation blown all over the world press because I have no other choice but to protect RSM's interests.

The President of the United States, Mr. George W. Bush, has instructed American oil companies to find more oil and gas outside the Middle East. We intend to fulfill that order from my President and no one, especially not Minister Bowen is going to stop us.

Grynberg's ship trespassed in Grenadian waters, destroying fishermen's nets in the process.

On January 12, 2004, RSM proclaimed that the boundary disputes between Grenada and its neighbors had been resolved (which was news to Grenada) and that RSM was therefore revoking the force mjeure clause in the Agreement.

Grynberg stated We are now confident we can proceed on our license to explore offshore - though no license had ever actually been granted - and sent a cheque for $19, 200 as a first payment on the license.

Minister Bowen wrote back to Grynberg and reminded him that no license had ever been granted to RSM, and returned the cheque. By this point, Jack Grynberg had single-handedly aggravated Grenada's diplomatic relations with its neighbors, and orchestrated a trespass into Grenadian waters, and yet had begun no meaningful oil and gas exploration in all that time.

The Government became convinced that RSM and Grynberg did not even have the resources to perform the exploration.

After receiving legal advice, on March 25, 2004 the Government issued a press release announcing that it would entertain applications for licenses to explore offshore for oil and gas.

On April 14, 2004, RSM itself submitted an application for a license. On April 27, Minister Bowen wrote back that RSM's application was being denied as untimely.

At present Grenada's boundary negotiations with Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago continue, and Grenada has not granted anyone an oil and gas exploration license.

(To be continued)