ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (CMC):

A woman whose job was to coordinate the outreach community programme for former Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell was yesterday morning detained by police after she was discovered leaving the office with documents relating to government projects.

Permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Lana McPhail, confirmed that Cheryl Williams was spotted by staff carrying away a bag of documents from the office. The incident occurred around the same time the new prime minister, Tillman Thomas, was arriving for his first day of duty.

"The first thing I did this morning was to have a meeting with the staff. I informed them that the political directorate had changed, but work continues. I also advised them that they should not remove nor destroy any documents from the computers nor hard-copy files," McPhail said.

"Shortly after I informed the staff about keeping the files, Williams claimed that she was here to clear her desk. She was then allowed to clear her desk but, when she was leaving, she was carrying a garbage bag filled with papers."

Would not leave papers

McPhail said Williams was asked to leave the papers, but she insisted they were her personal documents and she would not part with them.

"So, the police were called in and she was asked to accompany them to the Central Investigating Department, where she gave a statement and was released pending investigations; the documents were taken from her and are presently with me for verification," McPhail explained.

She said "appropriate action" would be taken against Williams if the documents were discovered to be those of the government.

Grenadians elected the National Democratic Congress to office on Tuesday. The party, led by Prime Minister Thomas, defeated the New National Party which was seeking a fourth straight term in office.