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U.S. fugitive sparks AG's resignation, political tension in Grenada


 RAWLE TITUS

 ST. GEORGE'S,
Grenada Convicted drug
dealer Emmanuel Ganpot
could have been a free man
on Aug. 4. Six years ago, he
promised Florida circuit Judge
Dee Anna Farnell that he
would appear in her court for
sentencing on drug related
charges.
 Instead, he jumped bond
and fled to Europe, changed
his name and lived the high life
in France, England, and Spain.
 Now Ganpot, 36, faces a
maximum prison term of 115
years when he re-appears in
court for sentencing on Aug. 13.
 But his actions may have
a lasting effect on politics in
Grenada, where his step-
father, Jimmy Bristol, was
forced to submit his resigna-
tion from the 13-month old
Tillman Thomas government.
 Bristol acknowledged that
he had used stationery from his
office to write a letter to U.S.
authorities appealing for a
lighter sentence for Ganpot. In
his letter, Bristol wrote "we all
err from time to time and
should not have our lives com-
pletely destroyed by one slip up.
 "Emmanuel was befriend-
ed by the wrong people and
has found himself in his pres-
ent predicament", he added.

TRANSGRESSON
 But the government said
he had transgressed and
Bristol, a former president of
the Grenada Bar Association
(GBA), initially accepted full
responsibility for what he


described as an error of judg-
ment and apologized to the
prime minister.
 "That was an error of
judgment...for which I accept
full responsibility for the
fall out. It has nothing to do
with the government and
indeed.. .in a meeting with the
prime minister I accepted that
responsibility and apologize
for the fall out that it has
caused," said Bristol.
 Government's Press
Secretary Richard Simon said
that raging debate that has
resulted from
Bristol's resig-
nation under-
scores the
commitment
of Prime
Minister
Thomas to
lead a trans-
parent admin- Ganpot
istration in a
country where allegations of
corruption in government are
never far from the surface.
 "What this shows is the
commitment of Prime
Minister Thomas to keep his
promise to the Grenadian
people in the context of pro-
tecting the institutions of the
land and ensuring there is
respect for those institutions,"
Simon said as he justified the
prime minister's request for
Bristol to step down.
 "I think this is the first
real test of that and the prime
minister has certainly fulfilled
that obligation."
 The ruling National
Democratic Congress (NDC)
had campaigned on a platform


of transparency and good gov-
ernance and, according to
Anslem Francis, a lecturer in
international relations at the
St. George's University here,
"the prime minister has raised
the bar very high, maybe high-
er than it has
ever been.
 "Now of
course, in the
interest of
good gover-
nance one
wants to know
that high
moral and eth- Bristol
ical standards
are being maintained in public
affairs. However, if we are not
very careful we may very well
be without a government in the
sense that probably every
Monday morning, somebody
may have to resign."
 Even though he had indi-
cated that he would have
accepted the consequences of
his error, Bristol was critical of
the request for him to hand in
his resignation.
 "The request was prema-
ture," he noted. "It was done
without the consultation of
the full Cabinet and without
due consideration of all rele-
vant matters. I was not writing
as attorney general but as step
father to identify myself. You
must identify who you are".

NOT CONVINCED
 But Elvin Nimrod, former
attorney general and minister
of legal affairs, is not con-
vinced by Bristol's argument.
 "I am sure this (his letter
to U.S. authorities) was done


intentionally to give weight to
his statement. This is not only
a conflict of interest, it is a
very terrible thing," said
Nimrod, who last month was
elected deputy political leader
of the main Opposition New
National Party (NNP).
 "To plead now that is an
error in judgment that cannot
be accepted at all. He has
implicated a whole govern-
ment and has brought disre-

government
and a whole
country."
 But Bristol
has his sup-
porters, includ-
ing Chiir r
Humphrey, a
legislator and Nimrod
outspoken
trade unionist.
 "The resignation is a tem-
pest in a tea cup," Humphrey
said. "It's very unfortunate
that the attorney general
resigned. Had I been the
prime minister I would not
accept the resignation of the
attorney general on the basis
of what has happened."
 Humphrey, who cam-
paigned for the NDC in the last
elections, said that the former
attorney general was not seek-
ing to bribe the U.S. judge.
 "He was not engaged in
a dishonest act," Humphrey
added. "He was not even pre-
tending that the appeal was


made by the government of
Grenada."
 Francis said there is need
now to "clearly define the cir-
cumstances in which we think
members of government should
resign if a member of govern-
ment has acted improperly.
 "I don't think it should be
because there is any error of
judgment. I don't think this is
going to take us too far. What
we have to guard against is
the misapplication of a very
good principle."

REVENGE
 But supporters of the
NNP are not convinced and
are delighted at the problems
confronting Bristol, who they
say had been at the forefront
of efforts to disgrace their
leader Dr. Keith Mitchell.
 Last year, Bristol told a
news conference that he had in
his possession a letter from the
U.S. Department of Justice
confirming that then Prime
Minister Mitchell was still an
American citizen, contrary to
the laws of Grenada on persons
holding high political office.
 But in an immediate
response, U.S. Charge d'Affaires
in Grenada Karen Jo Mclsaac,
refuted the statement saying that
Mitchell's U.S. citizenship ended
when he first became prime min-
ister on June 20, 1995.

- CMC


(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2)
a TT$3 million ($500,000)
ransom from his family. The
money was never paid, but his
dismembered body was locat-
ed by Federal Bureau of
Investigations (FBI) agents
and local law enforcement
officers on Jan. 8, 2006, in a
forest in Trinidad.

FATE
 The men were expected
to know their fates at their
sentencing, scheduled for
early this month. But media
reports in Trinidad quote law
enforcement officials there as
saying that an agreement
entered between the U.S. and
the office of the attorney gen-
eral could see the convicted
men facing mandatory sen-
tences of life without the pos-
sibility of parole.
 Late last month T&T's
acting Deputy Police
Commissioner Gilbert Reyes
confirmed the life sentences
against the accused and com-
mended local officers for
their role in the investiga-
tions.
 "I must say that they did


extremely well in assisting in
the successful prosecution of
the accused and they must be
highly commended for the
professionalism displayed
throughout the inquiry," he
said.
 The trial, which started on
May 26, took place at the U.S.
District Court in Washington
D.C. before Judge John D
Bates. The men had all plead-
ed not guilty to the charges.
 Initially, 12 persons had
been charged with the kidnap-
ping and murder of Balram.
However, David Suchit, who
was extradited in 2007, was
found not guilty by a 12-mem-
ber jury in the U.S. Four others
entered plea bargains and testi-
fied against the accused men.
 However, two others,
including Balram's former
common-law wife Doreen
Alexander Durity and another
member of the Special Forces
Unit, Ricardo Stevenson, are
awaiting trial for murder in
Trinidad after Chief Magistrate
Sherman McNicolls ruled that
a prima facie case was estab-
lished against them.
0


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August 2009


Trinis face life imprisonment for

 murder of U.S. war veteran