Philip J. Pierre: ‘There’ll Be No Grynberg Inquiry Under My Administration!’

Considering Labour Party leader Philip J. Pierre’s repeated demands for disciplinary action against a member of Allen Chastanet’s cabinet, on the basis of a letter retrieved from the Internet, his attitude at his party press briefing on Thursday strongly contradicted the “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” fairplay principle—especially where the Grynberg issue is concerned. 

Pierre had ridden to exhaustion his party’s latest hobby horse, ‘PAJOAH’, when this reporter brought up the recently resurrected, once more topical issue of Grynberg. Ever since the ICSID’s ad hoc committee conditionally restored to Jack Grynberg his right to have his US$500 million breach of contract lawsuit judged on its merits, the 19-year-old secret arrangement between the Colorado oilman and former PM Kenny Anthony has dominated public attention.

Of special public concern is the possibility, however remote, that Grynberg could win his case. Even before his charges have been considered, local taxpayers have already forked out some six million dollars for the services of lawyers. When I asked Mr. Pierre what he would do about Grynberg should he replace Allen Chastanet following the next general elections, he said: “A Philip J. Pierre administration will not conduct an inquiry into a matter that it doesn’t think deserves an inquiry. That includes Grynberg and many other things.” He left reporters at his press conference to speculate about what he could possibly mean by “other things”.

Earlier, Pierre had sought to underscore the difference between Prime Minister Kenny Anthony’s 2016 “comfort letter” to British entrepreneur Robert Ainsworth, and the ‘secret’ Grynberg arrangement and ‘PAJOAH’.

Said Pierre: “Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony has never said he did not sign the Grynberg arrangement. He’s never said so. He’s never said he did not sign the Robert Ainsworth letter. He’s never said so. He’s taken full responsibility for signing.” Of course, only some of that is true. The former prime minister has stubbornly refused to address the story of Grynberg that began in 1999, shortly after Earl Huntley, then external affairs permanent secretary, privately imported Jack Grynberg to confirm his “hunch” that there was oil in the sea at Dauphin.

Added Pierre: “The Grynberg issue is being spoken of and it’s in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. Right now it is in arbitration. It’s being worked on. There’s nothing secret about Grynberg. The documents were put in public. Rochamel went to the highest court in the region, in the land. That’s completely different. The responsibility for signatures was never in doubt. Let’s be real.”

“The United Workers Party have threatened Grynberg for a long time,” Pierre observed. “They just talk about it. They are in power so I can’t tell you what they should do. They should do what they deem fit and proper to do under any circumstance. They threaten so that they can intimidate people. That’s what they do. If the government thinks they can have an inquiry, they can go ahead.”

It should be noted that during his successful 2016 election campaign, and in more recent times, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet promised to investigate “the smoke around Grynberg”. The last time Chastanet mentioned the investigation, several months ago in parliament, an angry Kenny Anthony threatened that if the prime minister proved true to his promise, his immediate predecessor would “personally make sure you reap the whirlwind of your actions”. Obviously his words were not lost on Philip J. Pierre!