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October 27th 2010: Parliamentary Representative for Carriacou and Petite Martinique Hon. Elvin Nimrod is issuing a challenge to the Prime Minister to live up to his pronounced principles of transparency, accountability and Good Governance by using all possible means to bring closure to the allegations against the Minister for Finance before year end. Nimrod says he is disappointed in the Prime Minister as he has failed to act on the request from the Opposition for an enquiry into the matter. The following is a statement from the Former Minister for Legal Affairs.
Recent allegations that the present Minister of Finance is the holder of several offshore bank accounts and that some how, he is involved in suspicious financial transactions, including possible money laundering, is indeed very unfortunate and has become a very serious national concern which demands and deserves diligent, objective and exhaustive investigative efforts on the part of all those concerned so that this very troubling and disquieting matter can be brought to closure in an expeditious but satisfactory manner. Because the role and function of the Minister of Finance is of critical importance to the financial health and stability of the country, it is absolutely necessary to dispel any doubt or cloud of suspicion which may be hanging over the head of the Hon. Minister as a result of these allegations.
I am sure that these allegations have impacted very negatively on the physical, psychological and emotion wellbeing of the Minister and in turn affected his ability to perform his job in his usual manner. We live under a system of laws which presume innocence over guilt until and unless the facts prove otherwise. In his own defense, the Minister has denied the allegations made against him while at the same time using the occasion to informally disclose some of his assets. While the Minister is absolutely within his rights to so deny, we on this side and certainly the majority of the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique are not convinced that the Minister’s mere denial of the allegations is in and of itself sufficient evidence to prove his innocence.
Furthermore I am not convinced and neither are the majority of Grenadians that the premature and piecemeal disclosure by the FIU that the documents which alleged suspicious financial transactions by the Minister of Finance were not authentic, is sufficient and conclusive evidence of innocence on the part of the Finance Minister. Moreover, I believe that such disclosure by the FIU was not only premature but also inappropriate. It is a fundamental investigative principle that information or evidence obtained in an ongoing or pending investigation should not be disclosed except for some compelling reason. Therefore, we believe that such action on the part of the FIU has seriously compromised its investigative objectivity in this matter. In its recent statement on this matter, the FIU
spokesperson admitted that the FIU had not received any response from Europol pertaining to the investigation. Since Europol was named as an agency involved in this matter, it is difficult to understand how the FIU can make a conclusion without the input from Europol. Its not that we do not value the FIU as a local investigative agency but given the nature and seriousness of the allegations we believe that some outside assistance is needed.
Recently an NDC Activist called for a special prosecutor to investigate possible wrongdoing by the previous NNP Administration, even after the government had engaged a forensic expert to do so and no credible evidence was found and although there is a DPP constitutionally mandated to prosecute crime in Grenada. It is therefore not unreasonable to ask for outside assistance to investigate theses serious allegations hanging over the head of the Minister of Finance.
Therefore, in the interest of transparency, accountability and good governance and on behalf of all the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique including the Hon. Minister of Finance, I call on the Prime Minister, Hon. Tillman Thomas to conduct, through the relevant and competent investigative agencies, a full, thorough and impartial investigation into the allegations made against the Minister of Finance and to ask the said Minister to step aside while such investigation is being conducted.
I don’t usually reply to posts but I will in this case.
my God, i thought you were going to chip in with some decisive insght at the end there, not leave it
with ‘we leave it to you to decide’.
Its amazing that these crooks who ran Grenada into the ground is now asking for Transparency when 98 Percent of all Grenadians want to know how much was in that briefcase, and all the bad documented debit and credit practices used by that government to rape the treasury. Lets not waste the governments resources on calls from the lockup why arent they up on the hill doing time for their transgressions. This must be a joke ignore thier calls until they come clean. Enough has been written about all the con games and call centers lets move on without them like they did.