ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, June 22 – Former Youth and Sports Minister Jonathan LaCrette has suggested that his sudden cabinet dismissal was retaliation for exposing financial corruption involving a close friend of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.

In an exclusive interview on The Bubb Report on Sunday, LaCrette revealed he was investigating “large sums of money” being funneled to an organization led by William Baptiste, chairman of the National Lotteries Authority, when he was abruptly fired from cabinet on July 31, 2024.

“There were large sums of money being paid to a particular organization,” LaCrette disclosed during the interview.

“That particular organisation was receiving those sums of money” in what he described as financial improprieties that prompted a finance department staff member to tell him: “I am not going to jail for this, minister.”

The revelations come amid separate corruption allegations detailed on the talk show “Simon Says,” which first broke the news of financial irregularities at the lottery authority involving Baptiste’s company, Cathwills Stationery.

LaCrette said he brought his findings to cabinet on June 3, 2024, after finance department officials at the National Lotteries Authority “pinpointed to me some discrepancies and some financial improprieties that they feel needed to be addressed.”

The former minister said Prime Minister Mitchell promised to investigate the matter alongside the Attorney General but never followed through despite two reminder emails.

“I trusted that the Prime Minister was going to investigate the matter and get back to me with feedback as it relates to their findings, but that did not happen,” LaCrette stated.

“I am still waiting for a response from these two emails.”

When LaCrette pressed the issue again in late July, asking when the promised investigation would occur, he was dismissed from cabinet within days.

“I do not know if the honorable Prime Minister felt that I was prying too much, or maybe he felt that this guy is not backing down on this thing,” LaCrette said.

“All I know is I walked into the cabinet on July 31, my appointments were revoked, and I was relieved of my duties.”

LaCrette vehemently denied allegations that he leaked cabinet information, questioning why he wasn’t allowed to defend himself before being dismissed.

“Even if you felt that you came into information that one of your cabinet ministers is divulging data from the cabinet of Grenada… Where is the conversation? Where was the dialogue?” he asked during the interview.

“Even in a court of law, the defendant based on the advice of his lawyer, is given an opportunity to speak in his own defence. It came across as an execution-style exit.”

The former minister contrasted his treatment with that of another cabinet colleague who was “afforded the opportunity of a sit-down, of a dialogue conversation” before his departure.

The “Simon Says” podcast has detailed extensive allegations against Baptiste and Managing Director Cindy Henry, including claims that Baptiste allegedly funneled thousands of dollars to his private company, Cathwills Stationery Services, for furniture and office supplies.

According to the show’s investigations, Baptiste’s company “doesn’t even operate a legitimate furniture store” but sources items elsewhere and marks up invoices.

The podcast also highlighted a $295,000 construction overrun at Victoria Park managed by Baptiste himself.

Henry’s $15,000 monthly salary represents a $6,000 increase over her predecessor, despite what critics call a “political patronage appointment” given her former position on the NDC executive council.

LaCrette, who had served as Health Minister and Acting Foreign Affairs Minister before his appointment to the Youth and Sports portfolio, described the personal toll of his dismissal.

“You must have known that coming to the nation and using these two unmeasurable terms, trust and confidence, was going to affect my employability thereafter, that it was going to affect my family thereafter,” he said, noting his wife was five-and-a-half months pregnant at the time and had to be hospitalized due to elevated blood pressure.

The former minister has since resigned from the ruling NDC and formed the People’s National Party (PNP) with the nutmeg as its official symbol.

At the time of his dismissal, Mitchell only stated he had “personally lost trust and confidence in Minister LaCrette” without providing specific details.