GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO INVESTIGATING THOSE WHO “PLUNDERED” GRENADA

ST.GEORGE’S, FEBRUARY 18th, 2010_ Prime Minister, Hon. Tillman Thomas is “fully committed” to bringing those who “have plundered the state” to justice.

The Prime Minister made the declaration, in response to a question from one of his constituents, at a townhall meeting on Wednesday night at the River Sallee Government School, in his St. Patrick’s East Constituency.

“We have not refused to investigate…you know when people set out to do mischief, they usually try to destroy the evidence and it takes time to search and to get it. Once we have the evidence, those who have plundered the state, those who have exploited Grenada, we want to bring them to justice. I am fully committed to this,” the Prime Minister told the meeting.

He told the audience his administration was unable to make public statements on any investigations at this time, due to his administration’s respect for the legal system and its commitment to the rule of law.  “We cannot make public statements at this time. The time will come when we have to but as it stands, we are really trying to get the evidence,” the Grenadian leader told his audience.

In response to another question about the behaviour of the previous administration, the Prime Minister promised that land-owners, whose properties were acquired by the former government without compensation for a hotel project, will be paid prior to the start of a planned new tourism development.

“Let me give you the assurance that one of the preconditions that I set out for this project to get off the ground, is that all those people who were deprived have to be paid. The land was acquired without due compensation, and we will ensure that the people get what’s due to them,” he told the packed hall.

Prime Minister Thomas said his administration is making “every effort” to bring development and employment to one of Grenada’s most picturesque areas in the north of the island.