Rick Wayne has always expressed the view that the so-called Grynberg matter was not for public debate by individuals with little or no useful knowledge of the circumstances that in 2012 resulted in a US$500 million lawsuit by oilman Jack Grynberg against the government of Saint Lucia. As Wayne tells it, “This is a serious matter to be dealt with judicially, with the principals sworn to tell the truth.” But he has never been averse to being interviewed about what his 10-year Grynberg crusade has uncovered. Last week he accepted Real FM’s Timothy Poleon’s invitation to do just that. —Editor
Poleon: How did you stumble upon this Grynberg issue that has become an obsession for you?
RW: I didn’t stumble upon it. Jack Grynberg was first mentioned in parliament of this country by Richard Frederick and two other government MPs back, I think, in 2006 or so. Little did anyone know at the time that the MPs had glimpsed barely the tip of the Grynberg iceberg. Much of what they said back in the day centered on their concerns about the payment of related royalties. Then opposition leader Kenny Anthony was present but never uttered a clarifying account. Later, he took to the airwaves to announce a chilling lawsuit against Frederick. He also threatened Frederick’s friend Angel Brouet and anyone else who dared to speak openly on the contract he signed on behalf of the people of Saint Lucia that remained a secret for about nine years. On that occasion he assured the country via HTS that everything we needed to know about Grynberg had been published by Earl Huntley in the Voice. According to Huntley, a well placed friend had years earlier headhunted Jack Grynberg at Huntley’s behest, unknown to the government. Meanwhile Grynberg was in litigation with the Grenada government over an oil contract. All over the Internet there were (and are) stories about Grynberg’s history as a speculator in oil, nearly all scary. So, from the very beginning I’ve wondered why the leader of our government would tango with such an individual. The secrecy surrounding the affair was also disturbing to me. As you well know, to this day there has been no accounting by Kenny Anthony on the Grynberg matter. Not even the fact that his company has sued the government for breach of contract has been enough to move Kenny Anthony to offer some clarification. I find it fascinating, not to say curious, that one or two of his surrogates have lately been talking about the issue, but evidently have never considered getting the main man to speak up for himself. They carry on as if Rick Wayne, not Kenny Anthony, had secretly leased to Jack Grynberg over eight million acres of Saint Lucia’s seabed. After all, I’ve merely been doing my job as best I can.
Poleon: What is there for the former Prime Minister to clear up?
RW: Well, he could start by explaining before parliament the circumstances that led him to entrust over 8 million acres of our supposedly oil-soaked seabed in the hands of a man with Jack Grynberg’s reputation, and why he instructed Earl Huntley—on his own admission—to retain all related documents that properly should’ve been kept by the government.
Poleon: But why shouldn’t our government seek to utilize our natural resources in the best interests of the citizenry? Don’t you think that’s what the Prime Minister was attempting to do? Exploit our natural resources for the benefit of all?
RW:I don’t think I’ve said anything that might suggest I’m against exploiting our resources, such as they are, in the people’s best interests. But ours is also a country of laws. And no one is above the law. Kenny Anthony has shown scant interest in helping successive governments fight Jack Grynberg’s assertions. It’s costing taxpayers millions in legal fees, and we’ve so far been dealing only with preliminaries. We’ve yet to get to the US 500 million dollar question, which has to do with whether we are in breach of a contract, including amendments, that Kenny Anthony inked in 2000, evidently on his own!
Poleon: What kind of safeguards do you think should be put in place to ensure our leaders do not take such risks in our name?
RW: The safeguards are already there. That’s why it’s so important that we discover through the established channels whether any laws were infringed in this matter. I need add that I’ve never accused Kenny Anthony of wrongdoing in this Grynberg controversy. But our laws demand accountability, especially from those we elect to run the business of our country. God forbid we should have to pay to Grynberg even half of the demanded US$500 million in damages. Only an idiot or the worst party hack would hope Jack Grynberg gets his wish. US$500 million is about half of Saint Lucia’s GDP. We’d have to be incorrigible idiots to want Saint Lucia to lose to Grynberg. I regret that we’ve spent on legal fees so far over $5 million, money that could’ve been far more usefully spent at home. Which is why I’m saying to Kenny Anthony, if he truly loves this country as he claims, to volunteer information helpful to the government in this matter.
Poleon: But it appears Dr. Kenny Anthony will not cooperate, for whatever reason. He’s suggested in the past it is before a tribunal and to speak out would be sub judice.
RW: That’s the kind of response that really makes me wonder what Kenny Anthony is holding back. There’s nothing, nothing to stop Dr. Anthony or anybody else from discussing the Grynberg issue that is being heard in the United States. Besides, Dr. Anthony is a lawyer, a self-advertised expert in constitutional law, he would know where to tread without consequences. In any event, what he might have to say wouldn’t be shouted from the Castries market steps. He’d be talking privately with the government’s lawyers. Sub judice does not automatically mean you cannot talk about a matter before the courts. Any anyway, long before Grynberg sued the government, a desperate Prime Minister Stephenson King had pleaded with Kenny Anthony to come forward with information that might be helpful in dealing appropriately with Grynberg’s contract. Anthony has to this day not responded. Then there’s Earl Huntley who, to my mind, may know far more than Kenny Anthony about Grynberg. Why has the Chastanet government done nothing to discover what both men may know? To paraphrase Sir Louis Blom-Cooper, our addiction to corruption is what’s got us where we are.
Poleon: Now Rick, when the UWP got into office on 6 June 2016, you did come up with a list of priorities you thought the Prime Minister should deal with in the first 100 days of his administration. One of them was Grynberg. Any comment on that?
RW: I still have not come off that boat. Resolution of Grynberg and IMPACS are as important to Saint Lucia today as they were before the Chastanet government took office. We feel the fallout every passing day and will continue to suffer the consequences until both matters have been properly settled.
Poleon: What does that say about the ability of politicians to fulfill campaign promises?
RW: It speaks to our shortsightedness as a people. We’ve been accommodating empty promises for a very long time. I assume that is part of the corruption that Blom-Cooper talked about. There has been no change in our attitude to corruption since he made his famous observation. When Ubaldus Raymond indicated there were many stone throwers in the house of glass we call parliament, many took offence. But we know Ubaldus spoke nothing but truth. Someone said I would normally have stopped Ubaldus from making that sweeping statement. “Well,” I said, “why would I do that? I happen to believe he was on the button.” How often have we looked on in horror as parliamentarians on both sides refer to one another as thieves, money launderers, renegades and so on? Countless times.
Poleon: Why do you think Grynberg has never received the public attention it deserves?
RW:Lack of knowledge, for one. Party loyalty, for another. How concerned are we that the police have about 500 unresolved homicide cases on their books. We care only about things that directly affect us. Like when the police show up two hours after a call for help. Then we forget about the state of our justice system until it bites us in the ass another time.
Poleon: Do you have a timeline as to when you will shift your focus from Grynberg?
RW: Yeah, my focus now is gonna be on our current PM, Allen Chastanet. He promised that he would initiate an investigation. I should add that it’s a shame we may not see justice done because of the well-intentioned statute of limitations law recently enacted. MPs should be prosecutable, even if they committed their abuses fifty years ago. We can prosecute killers regardless of when they committed their crimes. The Jews continue to hunt down Nazis of the Holocaust. It’s not only future abusers of office who should be vulnerable.
Poleon: How do you convince SLP supporters you are doing something in the interest of the nation as opposed to you gunning for Kenny Anthony?
RW:I don’t give a damn what any politicians think. I can’t think of a story I wrote that was endorsed by all our politicians. It all depends on whether a red one or a yellow one is affected. I’ve never been motivated by mindless politicians who cannot deliver a speech in the House unless it’s written for them. The law requires that politicians in parliament not read their speeches. The Standing Orders insist that MPs not read their speeches. But instead of insisting that they obey the rules, the Speaker supplies the rule breakers with lecterns. I don’t care what politicians think, yellow or red. As for the rest of us, we have laws to protect us against our own stupidity but sadly they too are ignored, for reasons usually political!
