Grenada’s Prime Minister Tillman Thomas has admitted receiving money from an overseas donor as leader of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), but it’s not US$150,000 as claimed by the opposition New National Party (NNP).
Dr Keith Mitchell, leader of the NNP, has also alleged that the US$150,000 was contributed by a source in Saudi Arabia, but that charge has also been refuted.
“Approximately five months ago, a friend of Grenada, who does not wish to be publicly identified, and whose place of corporate residence is the British Virgin Islands, made a political donation of 50,000 US dollars to the prime minister as political leader of his party,” said a statement issued on Wednesday by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The full text of the PMO’s statement is as follows:
In the wake of the resounding and embarrassing defeat suffered in the recent vote of no-confidence motion on May 15th 2012 and the shock from the massive and enthusiastic crowd brought out by the Prime Minister at his Thanksgiving rally at the Grenville Car Park, the NNP and those known to be opposed to Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, are desperately grasping at straws, in their attempt to tarnish the good character of the Prime Minister and Political Leader of the NDC.
As a result, they are now trying to convince the Grenadian Public that the Prime Minister was engaged in some kind of shady financial dealings and that he received the sum of $150,000 US dollars from a criminal source in Saudi Arabia.
The Prime Minister wishes to assure the Grenadian public, in keeping with his commitment to the good governance agenda and his pledge to the Grenadian people to be accountable and transparent, that nothing could be further from the truth.
