ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA SEPTEMBER 7TH- Former Attorney General Cajeton Hood has taken the controversial Project Polaris land deal to court, asking judges to determine whether the Government broke the law in creating the Grenada Asset Bank and using public funds and government bonds to acquire the 84-acre Calivigny property.

The move marks a dramatic escalation in a controversy surrounding the proposed Polaris medical city, shifting the battle from political arguments and public commentary to the courtroom.

In an interview on Simon Says, Hood said he filed a claim in his own name and is representing himself, asking the court to make a series of declarations about the legality of the Government’s actions.

“I have gone to the court and have asked the court to make findings regarding what this administration has done,” Hood said.

Among the central questions he wants answered is whether the Government could withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund without parliamentary approval, create a debt against the Fund without first going to Parliament, and issue government bonds in the circumstances surrounding the transaction.

Hood is also challenging the legal foundation of the Grenada Asset Bank Company Limited, arguing that serious questions exist about whether the company was properly incorporated and whether it could legally acquire and hold the property.

“The Attorney General’s Chambers is not a qualified person to be an incorporator of a company,” Hood asserted.

He has named several senior officials and entities in the proceedings, including Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall, Attorney General Claudette Joseph and Registrar of Companies Robert Branch, as well as the Grenada Real Estate Corporation and Grenada Distillers Company.

Hood also wants the court to examine the ownership of the Polaris property and whether land acquired for the people of Grenada should have been vested in the Governor General.

Another potentially explosive issue concerns taxation. Hood says the Inland Revenue Department assessed approximately EC$2 million in land-transfer tax, but he says there is no receipt for payment.

The controversy centers on the Government’s EC$36 million acquisition of approximately 84 acres of Calivigny Estate, earmarked for Project Polaris. Background documents indicate that EC$16 million was paid from the Consolidated Fund, while approximately EC$20 million was provided through government-backed bonds.

Prime Minister Mitchell has defended the arrangement, saying the Grenada Asset Bank is “fully owned by the Government of Grenada” and was established to facilitate the purchase because the Government did not have sufficient funds to pay the entire price upfront.

Mitchell described the financing arrangement as a “creative” way of operating within the country’s fiscal rules, explaining that the seller agreed to accept part payment upfront and government bonds for the balance.

But Hood says the Government’s creativity must have limits.

“The Prime Minister can be creative, but his creativity cannot go outside the bounds of the laws of Grenada,” he said.

Hood insists his challenge is not an attack on the proposed medical city itself, but on the legality of the process used to acquire the land and finance the project.