It may have started out as a mere ripple, hardly worth the attention of the local press, but now there seems to be no end to the story that features as its main players a controversial oilman from Denver, Colorado, the former United Nations ambassador Earl Huntley, and the former prime minister of Saint Lucia Kenny Anthony, now leader of the opposition.
Two Sundays ago, maybe because he belatedly considers the story “a coordinated attack by a trio of ministers,” not to mention an attempt by the UWP “to score cowardly and cheap political points and to injure my integrity and honour in a year of general elections,” Dr Anthony did what he had chosen not to do when first the matter came up in the House on April 27, 2009: he sought, via a televised address to the nation, to rescue his reputation following what he has referred to as “deliberately fabricated lies” by “political cowards” hiding behind the abused protection of parliamentary privilege.
Since then, the issue that Huntley referred to in a Voice article as “The Story of the Dauphin Oil Project” has gone viral, in the process attracting the attention of the former deputy prime minister of Grenada—whose government had engaged the American oilman Jack Grynberg to explore the possibility of oil under the Grenada sea floor, as had then prime minister Kenny Anthony with respect to the sea at Dauphin. The fruitless arrangements had proved highly expensive for Grenadians, who had to fork out over ten million dollars before Grynberg handed back control of the waters of Grenada to the island’s government.
In his televised address two Sundays ago, Dr Anthony referred several times to “disputes” between Grynberg and the Grenada government, without supplying details. He also referred to Jack Grynberg’s unsubstantiated allegation that a member of the Grenada government had offered him a bribe, which he refused.
Speaking of his own government’s involvement with Grynberg, Dr Anthony referred on TV to Huntley’s published story in the Voice, which he claimed had effectively “exposed Richard Frederick’s calculated effort to deceive the public and injure [his] reputation.”
Yesterday, the MP for Castries Central, issued a press release that seemed to confirm the former deputy prime minister of Grenada’s continuing interest in the Grynberg affair: “Honourable Richard Frederick wishes to inform the general public that a press conference held in Grenada on Friday, May 20, 2011 will be televised on local TV stations HTS and DBS at 8.00 pm on Wednesday, May 25 and on TCT that same evening. The press conference includes a contribution by the former deputy prime minister of Grenada, Mr Gregory Bowen, who spearheaded the efforts of the Grenada government to get out of the grip of Mr Jack Grynberg in relation to his monopoly over the waters of Grenada.”
In his release the local MP announced “a subsequent press conference to address issues recently referred to by the leader of the opposition Kenny Anthony, not limited to his allegations of cowardice and dishonesty and his threat to sue Angel Brouet, an ordinary citizen.”
What Dr Anthony said was that Ms Brouet and another named former UWP senator had reproduced on Facebook “defamatory statements” by the MPs Frederick, Guy Joseph and Rufus Bousquet. He warned that while the “cowardly” MPs were protected by House privilege, “their supporters who repeat such allegations are not similarly protected.” Dr Anthony issued during his national address, what Frederick referred to as a “threat to sue Angel Brouet.” The opposition leader’s ultimatum to Ms Brouet was that she had “72 hours” in which to remove the Facebook entry or face the consequences!
Comments are closed.