L-R: PM Kenny Anthony, Haitian Ambassador Earl Huntley, Oil Billionaire Jack Grynberg and Opposition Leader Stephenson King.
It’s nothing short of mindboggling that a prime minister of this island, famous as it is for idle gossip, rum talk and mauvais langue, could have entered into an agreement with the world’s most contentious oil billionaire without anyone hearing about it for eight years.
No less shocking was the 2008 revelation that upon signing off on the deal in question the prime minister had instructed Earl Huntley, of all people, to keep all the related documents in his personal custody. His public service record was hardly spotless. At least once he had been declared guilty of abusing his office and acting without appropriate authority. What made him so trustworthy that the prime minister would repose in him such information as not even his Cabinet was privy to remains open to speculation.
Huntley offers a small hint. A self-serving newspaper article he published in 2009 had left no doubt that but for his serendipitous dip in the curative Dauphin waters one morning when he was cooking with swine-flu fever, he never would’ve stepped in what his companion from Babonneau had in her ignorance dismissed as unspeakably smelly dog shit. Of course, the far worldlier Huntley instinctively knew better. Something about the texture of this particular species of beach goo had struck him as so unusual as to warrant further investigation by an expert. His search for just the right man, with help from an accommodating Saint Lucian ambassador, had finally led to the notoriously litigious CEO of the Denver-based RSM Production Company. There was enough about his exploits on the Internet to fill the Castries Central Library—as indeed the government of Grenada had discovered, alas only after taking him on as a partner in a 1996 oil-exploration project that went no where yet had cost taxpayers over $10 million dollars.
As Huntley would later recall for the exclusive benefit of Voice readers, it had not taken his billionaire guest very long to confirm his hunch. The surrounding black hills at Dauphin and the even blacker beach sand, not to mention the unmentionable nasty stuff on Huntley’s foot, spoke loudly of lucrative oil deposits. All that remained was to start drilling. Easier said that done, for first there were the all-important various permits to be acquired. The authorities would have to be convinced of the project’s viability, a process that could take months, if not years. But then how many oil projects had ever boasted a finder who also was a powerhouse foreign affairs permanent secretary? Jack Grynberg had abruptly found himself in hog heaven. He had to have known, even before he set out to dig up the Saint Lucia seabed, that by hooking up with Earl Huntley he had struck black gold!
Unfortunately, there is nothing on record by which to determine how many times Huntley and his RSM associate met with Saint Lucia’s prime minister. The official documents that Huntley reluctantly handed over after several requests by representatives of the Stephenson King government—and only at Grynberg’s recorded personal intervention!—are far from complete, according to officials. Nevertheless, they indisputably prove that on 29 March 2000 Kenny Anthony issued the oilman a permit authorizing him to explore
8.73 million acres of the Saint Lucia seabed, despite that the Minerals (Vesting) Act clearly states the governor general alone is authorized to do so.
Moreover, that even though Grynberg had invoked the agreement’s force majeure clause just six months later, the prime minister had extended both the agreed area and the oilman’s license to explore it for oil.
Despite that some twelve years have elapsed since the Grynberg engagement, Kenny Anthony has addressed the issue just once—and only to insist the contract had expired in 2007. Predictably, Anthony Astaphan, his lawyer for all seasons, had concurred. A constitutional lawyer in private life, Kenny Anthony had gone so far as to excoriate the day’s prime minister for having wasted a “colossal amount of taxpayers’ money” in a pointless pursuit of legal advice when the evidence clearly indicated the contract had run its course.
For a time it seemed the issue had died a natural death. But with only a few months to go before the 2012 elections, Earl Huntley re-emerged from his ambassador’s residence in Haiti to assist Kenny Anthony’s campaign to unseat Stephenson King. Huntley recalled for the benefit of a regaled press that “de lyin’ King” had at some point after 2007 renewed the arrangements with Jack Grynberg.
Over the then prime minister’s persistent denials, Huntley—aided and abetted by King’s larger-than-life ejected former Cabinet colleague Ausbert d’Auvergne—claimed he had personally picked up an envelope containing the renewed contract from someone at the prime minister’s office. Alas, neither gentleman was in a position to enhance their credibility with proof of their outrageous allegation!
Then just last month the inevitable occurred. The Labour Party having been returned to office last November Prime Minister Kenny Anthony announced via a precedent-setting back-dated press release that Jack Grynberg had on 29 March 2012 had placed before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes a complaint of contract complaint against the government of Saint Lucia centered on a breach of their contract secretly established exactly twelve years earlier. According to the prime minister’s press release, the suit also names the former prime minister. But to date Stephenson King has not read the actual complaint, save for versions doubtless edited for public consumption.
Ausbert d’Auvergne is also named in the complaint—as is Earl Huntley, to whom Jack Grynberg referred, in his correspondence with the King government, as “my trusted associate!”
It is worth noting that the local press has for undisclosed reasons refrained from soliciting further details of Grynberg’s suit from the prime minister, who remains as tightlipped on the matter as indeed he had been at the Ramsahoye Commission of Inquiry, set up in 2007 to investigate previously unknown details of Rochamel. Inexplicably, the opposition has been similarly silent on Grynberg.
No matter, RSM’s CEO claims in his suit that his company complied “with all its obligations under the agreement, both initially and as amended.”
Additionally: “Under this agreement RSM has an exclusive offshore license issued by Saint Lucia to explore, develop, produce and market oil and gas extracted from the agreement area. By claiming the agreement has expired, and threatening to place exploration rights in the subject area out to competitive bid, Saint Lucia has breached the agreement.”
Grynberg also claims: “RSM has undertaken significant efforts to resolve this dispute amicably . . . Initially these efforts were directed at Prime Minister King and his government. “Following the 2011 elections, Prime Minister Kenny Anthony, who had negotiated the original agreement, once again became prime minister.
“RSM attempted to negotiate with Prime Minister Anthony’s government, first through Earl Huntley, then at Mr. Huntley’s direction, through Saint Lucia’s attorney general. “Finally, at the attorney general’s suggestion, RSM reached out directly to Prime Minister Anthony. RSM sought, through communications with each of these individuals, to obtain either a prompt substantive meeting to discuss any differences between RSM and Saint Lucia or, if such a meeting could not be arranged promptly, RSM proposed a tolling agreement which would have allowed the parties to negotiate for several months without having to worry about any statutes of limitations expiring. None of these efforts solicited any substantive response from Saint Lucia.”
Besides seeking damages in excess of $US200 million, RSM has demanded that Saint Lucia “pay in full and compensate RSM as appropriate for the fees and expenses of the arbitrators, the ISCID administrative expenses and all costs incurred in connection with this arbitration, including without limitation the fees and expenses of all experts and all legal fees and expenses.”
Just for the record: Jack Grynberg has cited bribery in at least three of his disputes before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes—including that involving the government of Grenada!
It remains to be seen where Earl Huntley will stand when the ISCID sits to consider the case of RSM versus Government of Saint Lucia. Will he be on the side of Kenny Anthony or will he stick with his friend “Jack,” Huntley’s trusting “associate?” Considering his related services rendered above and beyond the call of duty—even when he was no longer a public servant—I, for one, can hardly wait to hear how well rewarded was Earl Huntley!
It remains to be seen where Earl Huntley will stand when the ISCID sits to consider the case of RSM versus Government of Saint Lucia. Will he be on the side of Kenny Anthony or will he stick with his friend “Jack,” Huntley’s trusting “associate?” Considering his related services rendered above and beyond the call of duty—even when he was no longer a public servant—I, for one, can hardly wait to hear how well rewarded was Earl Huntley!
Who knew a dip in the waters of the sea at Dauphin would lead to such an expensive appearance before the International Court for the Settlement of Investment Disputes?
Browse Ads
Search Ads
Place Ads
Over to you Kenny. St Lucia, less 200 million to Grynberg,is sure trouble for St Lucia.
What a bone head agreement this was.
Cheers to better days!
The main issue should be FIND A WAY TO EXPLOIT THIS OIL FOR THE BGETTERMENT OF THE ST LUCIAN PEOPLE.This article is only playing politics.RW is not offering any solutions for the exploitation of the oil.The labour unions in st lucia are very weak ,they fight for only short tem stuff like wage increases.There should be major strikes in the country forcing the government to find a way to exploit this oil as quickly as possible.but of course for this to happen rick wayne had to do his job of informing the people, which he does only in a limited way to keep the devide and rule system going.THIS MAJOR LOSS OF PROSPERITY OPPORTUNITY IS A CAUSE FOR REVOLUTION.WE need a real labour union.ORGANIZATI
…and this guy is seen as the better of two evils? Hey Rick!, it seems like both he and de party de rouge wanted him back for one last go around to clean him up and prop him up for the purpose of legacy…not looking too good right now! this banche’ is about to burste before it reach the sea!(pun intended!)….pray tell…who was the “companion” from babonneau? or will u be labelled just like guy joseph if said companion is exposed?
That is how business is done in St. Lucia, always about 100% self interest. Some lawyer in St. Lucia is rubbing hands and other things while in a money mood. Bring it on.
C’mon, Botox, what lawyer anywhere in the world works with less than 100% self interest? Some lawyer in St Lucia rubbing his hands, you say? Why? St Lucian lawyers are not normally beneficiaries of such deals. Have you not taken note of the one lawyer who has so far publicly commented on Grynberg—more often that has the prime minister himself. Not this time, however. I suspect the winners will be American lawyers!
That is my point exactly, the St. Lucia atmosphere has lawyers as oxygen. We have become so lawyered in our everyday life that it has rendered the society to being natural invalids. Lawyers have created themselves to being like Gods on this rock, but I dare say most are not as smart as they pretend to be, which is why the island is in such a stink.
200 million plus extra wow whats next. I hope we are ready for this fight and the finger pointing will not help. The renewed contract will come to light and the signature on we be known. I hope we are ready for the battle because Grynberg is shooting to kill. He does not plan on making a lose like any true businessman.
Quite the gruesome foursome, Kenny, Huntley, Grynberg and King. Why is it that in all third world, yeah third world not developing, countries that when governments are negotiating potential lucrative deals involving the countries natural resources they conveniently forget to include the citizens? It is time we the people change this. Another Issue I find unsettling is the Black bay lands. Why are we paying EC$50M to “Keep it in the hands of St Lucians.” When it was the same Kenny Anthony who was going to Sell it back in 2006, and the same Kenny who criticized the former PM for contributing the land as an investment instead of selling? Why the change of heart at a time we cannot afford it?
A foursome with these for guys does not make for a pretty site…flapping stomachs withstanding! I would add Astaphan as the last little piggy to the Mud fight, as he seems the present government’s lawyer of choice…I would also include the noted companion to the mud bathe, for the least as a witness and to add a little pizzazz to frolicking of dirt bags.
Was VAT introduced to raise funds to pay GRINDberg? Will this cause the present pm to relinquish the pmship? Is Ernest Hillaire ready to take over the helm? With powerhouse lawyers from the states willing to come through for a killing in this case…is Anthony Astaphan good enough? What are we willing to pay to prevent from paying $200,000,000? Where will this case be heard? Can Grindberg claim bias from the Caribbean Courts? Should a pm not be sue-able for malpractice? Can one teach law after signing multiple bad contracts? Is Earl Huntley a Free agent? Does he have shares in the Grindberg deal? He did discover the unspeakably smelly dog shit!….Who was that mysterious woman he was with?
what is with kenny and tax-payers money.Look he is choosen as head leader of a bank where St Lucia debt level stink..prepare for whats next..
OVER THE years, many of us have become inured to the serial hypocrisy of our political class but every now and again the brazenness of that hypocrisy becomes so breathtaking that our tolerance for it breaks. Now is such a moment and it concerns the silence on the Grynsberg Scandal.
The narcissist Kenny Anthony and his sidekick Phillip Pierre have declined for over a decade to give st lucians any answers on the Rochamel Debacle and now the blatently rotten Grynsberg Fiasco.
Aside from raising our national debt by over $1 billion and packing the notoriously inefficient civil service with thousands of new employees we have proff of a decade of a wall of silence by these scamps.
Do we know the type of Government’s documents Kenny burn prior the 2006 general election?
Hey Rick, do you remembered you had a news article (2007) where you had interviewed Kenny and he did admitted that he burn some governement documents? Do we really know what got burnt?
Promised You Lucians That Better Days Are Coming.
The problem with us in st lucia is that we have lost our sense of right and wrong. So we are quite willing to listen to and beleive the words of a Kenny or tony or phillip and not make a comparison of these pronouncements versus the actions.
How can we do the same thing over and over again by voting for these venal politicians then expect things to change in St. Lucia?
Any objective analysis shows Kenny to be incompetent and incapable of managing st lucia but here he is turning up again like a bad 2 dollar bill throwing away st lucia’s resourses at every turn of the dice.
The final rape of Fair Helen, I don’t think She’ll survive this one…stupid pond-scum politicians.
We were never ready for independence, you see…STOOOPID.
Independence was a 78 political gimmick……Kenny arrogance will destroy him…..and stlucia…if we allow it. All we do is talk..blog..and diss each other while Helen suffers
guess the 100 million Kenny or Tony promised to inject into the economy as soon as he regained power, (not yet done? where is it?) will now have towards his paying off Grynberg!! on a serious note, if Kennedy Anthony and Earl Huntley did this on their own accord, without any say from St. Lucians, then this was a personal deal and as a result should be held personally responsible leaving them to incur all relative costs. This should not cost St. Lucians a thing!!
Lion of St Lucia: So you think I’m holding something back? OK. Then deal with what I’ve not held back. As for exploring our seabed, no one is able to do that until the ICSID decides who has the right. Now here’s something I’ve been hammering for at least a year. Not even Kenny is free to interfere with what Grynberg says is his exclusive right. Can you handle that?
Excuse me bro for expecting more than journalism from u.I expect u to be more of an activist than just a journalist (one who gives news).what I feel you are holding back is,the DIRECT call for manifestation of the people against corrupt politicians.mass protests could put alot of pressure on all parties to speed up the process.You are in the position to put fire in the minds.I am not seeing u take a leadership role in reminding the people that the gorv are servants and we the people are the real power.the news is great,but has it made kenny come out and speak on this issue.NO.Mass protest surely would.GET UP STAND UP, STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHT.I want you to fire up the people rick wayne.lol
Ok,we have read the articles,we all know that they are corrupt and they care for just themselves.Then what ??.Knowing alone has never made our situation better.U have the power to organize a mass protest forcing the government to come out.why not use all this info as PROPAGANDA(original sense) to unite the people for a cause that will benefit both left and right.the 2 party system is a vicious divide and rule one.The people are
asleep but U have exactly what it takes to wake them up.You have exposed some of them ,fine, now is time to call on the people to DEPOSE them.If U feel you have done your part fine, but can we please use your station to mount the coup d’etat.lol.we need the media
It really seems that people know nothing about investment arbitration or state investor contracts on this board. All people are doing is talking politics. Mr. Grynberg is clearly a corrupt individual and was attempting some kind of monooly of St. Lucia’s seabed, which obviously the very first contract did not actually provide. Unless King change the terms of the second contract signed, he has not leg to stand on. In terms of the contract, there was no wrong doing by the Gov’t. Mr. Grynberg failed to perform under the terms of the contract. He is claiming that this was frustrated by regional negotiations on exclusive economic zone of explotation. That is a sovereign matter.
Grynberg will just take Gros Piton as his and call it a day. Most Governments do not go into business with the people’s assets, and there is a very good reason for this. They are totally incompetent in business, or else they would have been in business already and would not waste their time in the borbol leadership game.
I knew those hypocritical tears he shared when he was swearing into office was a sign of trouble…
Now any help St.Lucia want from a foreign country she will get it for a cut…
This is a test for the people’s representatives in St Lucia – The Media, The Chamber of Commerce, The Unions, The MP’s, The Calypsonions, The Lawyers (as legal experts), The Political analysts, The Senators, the Politicians and Shadow Ministers, etc. Only the ‘lone ranger journalist-RW’ has been riding so far.
Let us have ‘free’ constructive discussions from all perspectives and dimentions so that good governance can truely be seen to be part of good government. So far there is gross ignorance on the ground, no one knows the true fragrance of this sniff. But it may help in educating our leaders about accountability and challenge our easy acceptance of low standards in beloved Helen…
Like the Arab spring.. St. Lucia is ready for a Helen Summer. Lets take to the streets and demand the crooks resign their government positions!
Not sure we are quite ready, too may persons in positions are there not because of wisdom or experience but because because of loyalty to their bread. We are not yet enraged by indecency and injustice. We are not yet hungry for substance but worship the icons and devour the carrots. We will be ready we can match our thirst for justice with our hunger for change. We are neither hungry nor thirsty – still satisfied with chicken and bread and afraid to stand up and say no to the carrots. We were ready in the late 70′s and although Labour’s loss at the polls recently spoke volumes – we were clearly afraid to say openly that we were fed up – of being victimised. Helen Summer – not…
The sad thing about this whole matter is that both red and yellow will have to pay. Hence the reason we should stop treating politicians as gods. They are not smarter than the ordinary man on the streets; or are they? Well, they were able to make us believe better days are coming which we drunk like ice cold kool aid on a hot day. Despite the dark clouds following them, they always seem to persuade the electorate to place them back in office over and over and over…..apart from diabetes, Alzheimers seem to be the next top killer for Helen. Why is it that neither administration has never sought to implement laws that would have ministers or public servants accountable for their actions?
Is Rick Wayne the official opposition or it it the UWP??
The UWP appear so imtimdated these days by Anthony , Foster and co that one wonders … what is the point of them??
Without Wayne then clearly St.Lucia would be a one party state?
Sadly to say the Voice appears to be acting like the old Soviet Pravda for the government.
No good for democracy
dem cellars treating you’ll good….hummm they better because they gone…..Kenny said to us as he approached hyatt for the grand opening….he had already promised sandals the grande….that’s has been his modus operand ….how a doctor can be so foolish …..education is not diplomas but what we use the book s for …to learn or follow ……I refuse to believe that the smart humble afro Kenny I sock a post umpteen years ago evolved to this……I regret my vote……..toof