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FM AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
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C O N F I D E N T I A L BRIDGETOWN 001255 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL KCRM GJ XL
SUBJECT: GRENADA PRIME MINISTERIAL CORRUPTION INQUIRY 
STALLED 
 
REF: BRIDGETOWN 429 
 
Classified By: Poloff Michael Kelleher for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  The investigation into allegations of 
corruption against Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell is 
stalled and may die quietly.  The Commission of Inquiry, 
which was charged with investigating a claim that Mitchell 
accepted a suitcase containing US$500,000 in exchange for 
granting diplomatic status to an unsavory international 
businessman, has moved slowly and is now delayed indefinitely 
because of legal wrangling.  When, or even if, the 
investigation will move forward remains uncertain, 
particularly after both the PM and his top legal advisor 
publicly declared the ostensibly independent inquiry to be 
dead.  The one certainty appears to be that the Government 
had no plan to conduct a serious investigation and hopes that 
the matter will fade away before Grenada's next election. 
End summary. 
 
--------------------- 
Investigation Stalled 
--------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The Commission of Inquiry investigating allegations of 
corruption against Grenada PM Keith Mitchell has stalled and 
may be delayed indefinitely.  Since the Commission was formed 
in August 2004, it has sat for only several days in June 2005 
to hear testimony from a handful of witnesses involved with 
the PM's trip abroad in 2000 when he allegedly accepted a 
bribe of US$500,000 to name businessman Eric Resteiner a 
Grenada diplomat.  (Note:  Based upon information provided by 
LEGATT Bridgetown, Post reported previously that Mitchell is 
accused of taking US$50,000 from Resteiner (reftel).  The 
Grenadian investigation, however, is looking into charges 
that the PM accepted US$500,000.  End note.) 
 
¶3. (U) The Commission has been inactive since June 2005, in 
part because of a legal challenge brought by the leader of 
Grenada's opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), 
Tillman Thomas, who petitioned to take part in the 
investigation.  The petition was rejected by Richard 
Cheltenham, sole member of the Commission of Inquiry.  The 
opposition leader successfully appealed this decision in 
court but the Government has filed a subsequent appeal, 
leaving the matter in limbo until a judgment is handed down. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Inquiry Has Done Little Inquiring 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Even without the legal delay, it appeared to observers 
that the Commission of Inquiry failed to aggressively pursue 
the matter against PM Mitchell.  The Commission has 
interviewed several civil servants who organized or 
participated in the PM's 2000 trip to Switzerland where he 
allegedly accepted the money from Resteiner.  It has not 
interviewed journalist David Marchant, who first published 
the allegations against the PM on his website Offshore Alert, 
nor has it obtained testimony from Eric Resteiner. 
 
----------------------------------- 
No Effort to Contact the Key Figure 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) The Government of Grenada (GOG) has made no effort to 
seek testimony from Eric Resteiner, the individual who 
allegedly bribed PM Mitchell, according the Richard 
Cheltenham, the Barbados attorney who is the sole member of 
the Commission of Inquiry.  Cheltenham explained to Poloff 
that he recommended to Minister of Foreign Affairs Elvin 
Nimrod that the GOG ask the USG for assistance in obtaining a 
statement from Resteiner, who is presently in Federal prison 
after pleading guilty to multiple charges of fraud (reftel). 
Resteiner had reportedly offered to provide to the USG 
evidence against Mitchell, including a videotape showing the 
PM accepting the bribe, in exchange for a lighter sentence. 
After Federal officials declined the offer, Resteiner had no 
reason to cooperate with the GOG.  Cheltenham said he advised 
the Foreign Minister that requesting USG assistance was only 
a symbolic gesture but could at least give the appearance 
that the GOG was attempting to get to the bottom of the 
matter. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Commissioner's Contradictory Conclusions 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) The Commission of Inquiry should have concluded its 
work "long ago," according to attorney Cheltenham, who 
offered Poloff contradictory assessments of the situation in 
Grenada.  The Commissioner, whose independence has been 
questioned by observers, said he believes there is no truth 
to the charges against the PM, but also complained at length 
about the "network of rascality" in the Eastern Caribbean 
through which shady business figures buy influence and 
diplomatic status.  "Any self-respecting government does not 
allow its PM to go on a trip financed by a private 
individual," said Cheltenham.  The lawyer argued that the 
Commission of Inquiry could have proved useful by laying down 
guidelines to govern the manner in which the GOG accepts 
money from outside figures as in the case of Resteiner, who 
PM Mitchell contends, and Cheltenham said he believes, 
provided US$15,000 to fund a Government trade mission. 
 
¶7. (C) The Commission of Inquiry may never complete its work, 
in Cheltenham's opinion.  In any event, its independence will 
be doubted as a result of statements by PM Mitchell and his 
top legal advisor, Hugh Wildman, both of whom publicly 
declared the inquiry to be over.  Cheltenham is highly 
critical of Wildman, who has proven aptly named through his 
regular, inappropriate public utterances such as when he 
recently called the Commission of Inquiry "an exercise in 
futility."  The Barbados lawyer believes it was Wildman who 
advised the GOG against requesting assistance from the USG to 
obtain a statement from Resteiner. 
 
---------------------- 
Much Ado About Nothing 
---------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) The charges against PM Mitchell are "much ado about 
nothing," in the opinion of GOG legal advisor Hugh Wildman. 
To date, the Commission of Inquiry has uncovered no evidence 
of any wrongdoing and found simply that the PM was reimbursed 
for personal expenses incurred during an official trade 
mission.  Grenada, which has limited resources, needs to take 
advantage of international business figures such as Eric 
Resteiner who have connections to possible investors, 
explained Wildman, who complained to Poloff that the 
corruption charges are an attempt by the opposition to 
discredit the PM. 
 
¶9. (U) Note:  Jamaican-born Hugh Wildman has been a 
controversial figure in Grenada since his arrival in 1998, 
when he came to work as Director of Public Prosecutions.  PM 
Keith Mitchell sought to name Wildman Attorney General in 
2005, but the appointment was successfully blocked by the 
opposition-dominated Grenada Bar Association, which argued 
Wildman's intemperate nature made him a poor choice for the 
job.  The PM went around this obstruction by appointing 
Wildman to the newly created position of Special Legal 
Advisor to the Government although observers believe he is 
the de facto Attorney General.  End note. 
 
------------------------------- 
Will USG Provide the Videotape? 
------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (C) The political opposition remains hopeful that the 
Government will lose its current legal appeal and NDC leader 
Tillman Thomas will be allowed on the Commission of Inquiry. 
Opposition Parliamentarian Peter David said that Grenada's 
Governor General, who formally established the Commission, 
had given David his personal assurance that the investigation 
would get moving again.  Such an outcome would be more likely 
if the USG could assist the Commission in acquiring a copy of 
the videotape that reportedly shows Keith Mitchell taking the 
bribe from Eric Resteiner, David explained to Poloff. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11. (C) The opposition's optimism is curious considering that 
the Commission of Inquiry has accomplished virtually nothing 
during two years of existence, supporting the view that the 
Government had no intention of permitting a thorough, 
independent investigation.  How the Commission can justify 
its failure to contact Eric Resteiner or question the PM is 
hard to fathom.  Unfortunately, the opposition has made 
matters worse through its legal action that has caused an 
interminable delay that, the longer it continues, could see 
the Commission quietly disappear.  PM Keith Mitchell 
 
doubtless hopes that public memory of the formal inquiry will 
fade before Grenada's next election, which is due by 2008. 
The "briefcase incident" and other allegations of malfeasance 
involving the PM and members of his Government will insure, 
however, that corruption will be one of the key issues for 
voters. 
KRAMER