Prime Minister Welcomes Warburton’s Report
But Says He Remains Angry!

Prime Minister Lester Bird has welcomed the report of an investigation team into allegations made by a female minor on a videotape that was clandestinely distributed in Antigua and abroad in early May this year.

The report by retired British Metropolitan Police Officer, Colin Warburton, and senior representatives of the Antigua and Barbuda Police Force, was submitted to the Attorney General, Mrs Gertel Thom who commissioned the investigation in May.

In a public statement that was recorded for radio and television, the Attorney General has released all of the findings of the investigation that relate to public officials including Prime Minister Lester Bird, Senator Asot Michael, and Commissioner of Police Truehart Smith.

The Attorney-General said that the full report is being delivered to the Governor-General, the Director of Public Prosecution and the Leader of the Opposition. Because of on-going Police investigations into certain matters, aspects of the report will not be made public.

Mrs. Thom said that while Opposition Leader Baldwin Spencer will have a copy of the full report, he will be asked to respect the confidentiality of the on-going Police work.

The report found that the allegations made against Prime Minister Lester Bird and Senator Asot Michael had no foundation whatsoever.

It also said that accusations against two officials of the US Government have been dismissed as baseless.

The investigation was conducted in six countries and had the full co-operation of the US Drug Enforcement Administration who said in a letter appended to the report, that Prime Minister Lester Bird had both personally and publicly fully supported the fight against drug trafficking. The US Drug Enforcement Administration rejected the allegations made against the Prime Minister by the female minor, Monique Kim Barua.

Commenting on the Attorney-General’s statement on the report of the investigators, Mr. Bird said he welcomed the report.

“The report does not surprise me. It could have come to no other conclusion because the allegations made against me on the videotape are wholly false. I have never met the young woman and never had any relationship of any kind with her,” the Prime Minister said,

He continued, “ As the US Drug Enforcement Administration has confirmed I have been in the forefront of the fight against drug trafficking in the Caribbean. The young woman’s allegations of my involvement with drug traffickers are ludicrous in the extreme.”

Prime Minister Bird said: “While I welcome the findings of this report, it in no way diminishes my anger at those who concocted this videotape, nor does it ease my disappointment with those who were ready to believe it.”

He added, “As I said, I am prepared to be judged in the things I do, but I will never accept being judged on the concoctions of others and certainly not on such outrageous lies.”

Mr. Bird concluded, “I co-operated fully with the investigators giving them unrestricted access to my bank accounts, my credit card accounts and my telephone records. I suspended my own rights to privacy to ensure that the falsehoods of these allegations could be exposed.”

The full report on all public officials will be released by the Attorney-General within 48 hours. Mrs. Thom said the delay was necessary so that sensitive material about on-going Police investigations could not be compromised.

It is understood that, arising from the investigations, recommendations have been made to the Police to investigate certain pornography and drug-trafficking operations.