by Linda Straker
- In December 2019, Joseph told reporters that Dr Mitchell invested in St Mark shrimp farm project
- Dr Mitchell denied investing in CBI shrimp farm project
- Jerry Edwin appointed as Dr Mitchell’s lawyer 2 weeks ago
A court in Grenada has set aside the default judgment in a matter involving former Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell and current Attorney General Claudette Joseph. The matter will proceed per the Civil Procedure Rules of the court.
Master Alvin Pariagsingh heard the matter on 15 June 2023. Former Prime Minister Dr Mitchell has since changed his lawyer, and that fact was among the considerations for setting aside the judgment, which was awarded in January 2021.
“My client said that the law should be followed, and we should not waste the court’s time but have the matter ventilated in court,” said Jerry Edwin, who was appointed as Dr Mitchell’s lawyer 2 weeks ago.
With the default judgment now set aside, Joseph was ordered to file her defence in the defamation matter. Dr Mitchell is claiming that he was defamed by Joseph in 2019 when she was the Public Relations Officer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Following the filing of her defence, the next step will be a case management hearing and possible mediation before a trial date can be set.
In a news conference called by the then-opposition National Democratic Congress in December 2019 to express concerns about the Al Jazeera production “Diplomats for Sale,” Joseph told reporters that Dr Mitchell was an investor in the shrimp farm project for the parish of St Mark. The project was among other regional CBI projects highlighted in the production, which alleges that administrations in the region are selling diplomatic passports.
Dr Mitchell has denied that he was an investor in the project, which was an approved Citizenship by Investment (CBI) project.
In February 2017, a CBI-registered company called Grenada Sustainable Aquaculture launched the Zero-Water Exchange Sustainable Organic Shrimp Farm. The project was expected to specialise in the production of shrimp in a manner that is free of antibiotics, chemical additives and enzymes. The farm would be operated out of Bocage, St Mark.
In October 2018, a notice on the CBI website informed that applications were suspended for the Grenada Sustainable Aquaculture project.
“Notice is hereby given that the Grenada Citizenship by Investment Committee has suspended the acceptance of applications in respect of the approved project, Grenada Sustainable Aquaculture, until further notice. We thank you for your continued support of the Grenada Citizenship by Investment Programme,” said the notice, signed by Thomas F L Anthony, then the Chief Executive Officer of Grenada Citizenship by Investment Unit.
In early 2019, Dr Mitchell expressed his disappointment with the action of the developers when the project did not become a reality. “We have been disappointed in this one,” said Dr Mitchell as he disclosed that the company’s action caused Government to make some mandatory changes to the way money was accessed for CBI developers and projects.
“They have not done the investment, and because of that, we have made some changes to the conditions of people receiving money from the CBI programme; we are making sure it goes into escrow accounts, and they have to account for it on a regular basis with the government having oversight. Some of them don’t like it, but we have to protect the name of the country,” he said.
