Within recent months, there has been an exodus of police officers from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), who are suspected to have strong links with the opposition New National Party (NNP) of former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell.
Informed sources told THE NEW TODAY that most of the officers who have quit the unit since the change of government some 17 months ago have taken up assignments with credit unions operating on the island. According to one knowledgeable source in recent weeks, two FIU employees who were members of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) have tendered their resignations to join the staff of the Grenville Credit Union.
He said that a third FIU personnel who is known to be associated with the NNP has decided to leave the Traffic Department to take up a job with Grenville Credit Union at a new branch office to be opened in Grand Anse in the south of the island.
He disclosed that a former Secretary at the FIU has also quit the job since the change of government and is now working at the Grenville Credit Union. Within months of the Dickon Mitchell-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) replacing NNP in June 2022, the acting head of the FIU who was a police officer resigned to take up an assignment with the Ariza Credit Union in the city.
There are reports that the FIU now has only one police officer on staff who is suspected to be aligned to the NNP. Speculation is rife that a former FIU boss who is on the executive of the Grenville Credit Union is assisting several police officers assigned to FIU to get employment with the organisation.
Under the former NNP regime, the FIU was often used by the administration to investigate political opponents. One notable case was the instructions allegedly given by former FIU boss Tafawa Pierre, the husband of ex-Education Minister Emmalin Pierre, to look into a scholarship that was given to the son of former NDC Finance Minister Nazim Burke.
Ex-Prime Minister Keith Mitchell reportedly frequently called on Pierre for an update on approaches made to Canada to seek their co-operation in the ongoing investigation. The probe came to an end as Canada did not co-operate with Grenada on the issue.
The FIU, under its new head Attorney-at-law Brendon La Touche, has been carrying out a number of investigations into activities involving persons linked to the former regime including the controversial FAITH organisation which received millions of dollars in state funds to engage in community work.