Grenada: Newspaper report puts spotlight back on diplomatic passports

Last updated: 22 December 2017, 6:19 am

Grenada is once again at the centre of a diplomatic passport scandal, this time surrounding a UK-based Pakistani national.

Fahad Sultan Ahmed has been named as a holder despite having no official diplomatic position at the High Commission of Grenada in London – which still remains without a high commissioner.

Ahmed does not appear to hold any other portfolio, or assignment, elsewhere for Grenada.

Despite repeated attempts for a comment, the press secretary for the prime minister’s office has not responded to emails from WIC News.

And while officials refuse to answer questions from the media, the head of the country's citizenship by investment scheme continues to promote her organisation's "excellent reputation."

The latest blow to the country’s standing was first reported by The New Today.

According to them, the diplomatic passport was issued to Ahmed in 2015 – two years after Prime Minister Keith Mitchell and the New National Party swept to power.

[caption id="attachment_8282" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Keith Mitchell.[/caption]

The New Today added that Kisha Grant-Alexander, the prime minister’s press secretary, did not respond to their questions either.

2018: More to come?

Throughout this year, when Grenadian officials have addressed matters it has been been to deny wrongdoing at any level.

The Caribbean nation has been dogged by rumours relating to the issuance of diplomatic passports since at least 2006, after leaked US diplomatic cables showed there were doubts over the legitimacy of those handed the special passports.

In August the country was rocked by allegations that a Ukrainian businessman paid $1 million to buy a diplomatic passport.

An email chain emerged showing the buyer attempting to get a refund after they did not receive the document. Following that fiasco the prime minister was again under scrutiny for an alleged relationship with a conman who fled the UK for Grenada. Only last month did this issue return to headlines, with a Florida-based blogger reporting he had new evidence.

The blogger followed this up with a series of posts alleging misconduct by the prime minister and the head of the citizenship by investment programme, Kaisha Ince.

She denied this, calling the allegations "an outright lie", and one government minister, Nickolas Steele, said he expects legal action to be taken.

In an editorial following its revelations, The New Today urged more transparency from Grenada's government over the process used to designate diplomats.

“Too many things seem to be done in the dark and middle of the night when the nation is asleep. It is said that only a handful of persons in this country know the persons who have been accredited around the world as diplomats of Grenada,” the opinion piece read.

“The people have a right to know who are all the persons with diplomatic passports that are representing them internationally.”