Bird ST. JOHN'S, Antigua, CMC:
FORMER PRIME Minister Lester Bird said yesterday a search carried out on his home by a 13-member police squad was part of a "witch hunt" by the ruling United Progressive Party (UPP).
"It is really outrageous," he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), after several personal documents, including cabinet papers and OECS documents Bird said he had accumulated over the years he was office, were confiscated from his home.
"This is the biggest witch hunt," he also remarked, while maintaining he was innocent of any wrongdoing.
"I'm not worried at all because I have not taken anything that I should not have had. It really is quite outrageous," Bird told CMC.
Yesterday's search, which started around 5 p.m., lasted for over an hour. His daughter Rika, who is a lawyer, was overseeing the operation.
At the same time, Bird reported that a 10-member police team was also carrying out a similar investigation at the home of another former member of the Bird regime, Asot Michael, who was among four successful Antigua Labour Party (ALP) candidates in Tuesday's poll.
The searches followed reports of missing files from the Office of the Prime Minister in St. John's.
New Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer ordered the probe on Wednesday after he visited the office complex, following his swearing in ceremony.
Spencer also called on the Commissioner of Police to present him with a report "within 24 hours" and told new Attorney-General Justin Simon to review the law to determine if the removal of the files "represents any infraction".
Last Saturday, hundreds of opposition supporters swooped down on the Prime Minister's Office after a radio report alerted that a number of vehicles were transporting items in boxes from the Prime Minister's Office.
However, Bird said the boxes contained personal items he was removing before Tuesday's general elections, which saw his Antigua Labour Party losing power for the first time in 28 years to Spencer' s United Progressive Party (UPP).
The UPP won 12 of the 17 parliamentary seats while the ALP captured four, with a re run scheduled to be held in the Barbuda seat which ended in tie between the two candidates who polled 400 votes each.
