ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (AP) – The director of The Grenadian Voice resigned yesterday because the managing editor refused to print his weekly column that often criticised the prime minister, who has been accused of taking a bribe.

Lloyd Noel and Managing Editor Leslie Pierre, who were jailed for three years by the nation’s former Marxist government after publishing the first issue of the newspaper in 1979, disagreed on the legality of Noel’s column.

The two men were freed after the United States invaded Grenada in 1983.

“The Grenadian Voice” refuses to print my article so why should I be a member of the board,” Noel said.

Pierre told Noel, a lawyer for the newspaper, that the article raised legal concerns and would not appear in the newspaper.

Noel was detained and questioned by police last month on suspicion of criminal libel after reporting on bribery allegations against Prime Minister Keith Mitchell made in the Miami-based newsletter, OffshoreAlert. Noel was never charged.

The April 30 OffshoreAlert article alleged Mitchell accepted a US$500,000 payoff from a German-born man in exchange for a trade minister position.