Former consul general of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to the United States, Rondy “Luta” McIntosh, says he removed only “personal files” from the computer he used at the consulate, adding that if it was “wiped completely”, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble has said, this was done by someone else.
“What I did do, as a reasonable person would upon leaving a position, was remove my personal files from the computer I used,” he said in a video published on Facebook on Saturday.
“I cleaned up email clutter from the email address passed on to the new consul general — personal correspondence, private documents, family matters, items that were mine and mine alone. That is not wiping a computer. That is basic and entirely proper conduct,” McIntosh said.
He said that his consular email was subsequently deleted, but maintained that he did not delete it.
“I would also note for the record that my official consular email account, [email protected], was active on the last day I went to the consulate, but was disabled or deleted by someone thereafter, not by me,” McIntosh said.
“If any files associated with that email account are now inaccessible, that is a matter that must be taken up with the person who disabled or deleted my consular email address, not with me.”
The former diplomat rejected as “completely false” and damaging to his integrity Bramble’s statement that the computers at the New York Consulate General were “completely wiped” at the end of McIntosh’s tenure.
Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Bramble said that Roland “Patel” Matthews, the new SVG consul general in New York, told him that on arrival at the mission in early March, “every single one of the computer systems were completely wiped”.
The minister said on Hot 97 FM the following day that his statement was a “fact”, saying, “All he told me is that there’s nothing on his computer.”
When asked directly whether it was “one computer” or “a server that’s been wiped”, the minister replied:
“That is what I’m not so sure about. The consul general would have to give me more details, because the situation is being investigated further…”
McIntosh, who served as consul general from Aug. 1, 2022, to Feb. 28, 2026, said Bramble’s statements left the public in no doubt as to whom Bramble was blaming, adding that he felt compelled to answer.
He, however, said he was responding “not out of bitterness, not out of partisan politics, but because these statements are factually wrong, they are deeply unfair, and they strike at the heart of my professional reputation and personal integrity”.
McIntosh claimed that Bramble had alleged that he had wiped the consulate’s computer systems, even as the minister appeared careful not to accuse anyone.
When asked on Hot 97 FM what he thought happened, Bramble said:
“Well, I can’t speculate. All I can go is on the facts where the current CG told me that nothing is on the computers when he got there. So we are investigating. We are … exploring all of our options.”
McIntosh said that on March 3, his last day physically present at the consulate, the computers were in normal use and the transition took place under the supervision of Kingstown’s Ambassador to the United States, Lou-Anne Gilchrist.
“She observed the staff at their workstation. She observed me personally assisting the incoming consul general, Mr. Roland Matthews, on the consul general’s computer. Everything was functioning. Nothing was wiped.”
The former diplomat detailed what he called a two‑phase handover process to Matthews, saying that Gilchrist oversaw both phases and they were documented in writing.
He said he prepared a comprehensive 17‑page handover booklet, which he shared in advance with Matthews and the ambassador.
The document, McIntosh said, covered “every aspect of the consulate’s operations: banking arrangements, account balances, passwords and access codes for all systems and devices, monthly expenses, key contacts, consular procedures, staffing, outstanding matters and strategic guidance for the road ahead.
“Nothing was hidden. Nothing was held back.”
He pointed out that his tenure at the consulate ended officially on Feb. 28, but Gilchrist asked him to go to the consulate after his tenure had ended, to assist Matthews “with setting up basic things on the computer”.
McIntosh said that on March 3, the day that he, Matthews, and Gilchrist went to the consulate, he personally drove the consulate’s vehicle and picked up Matthews in Brooklyn because he could not drive himself.
He said he then took Matthews to the consulate to meet Gilchrist, who had travelled from Washington to oversee the handover.
“Is that the behaviour of a man who has something to hide? That is the behaviour of a professional who took his duty seriously,” McIntosh said.
He said that on completion of the handover, he, Gilchrist and Matthews left the consulate together.
“It must be noted that on that date, March 3, while we did the physical handover at the consulate, at no point did I leave the consulate without my ambassador and Consul General Matthews,” he said.
“On completion of the handover, three of us left the consulate, went and had lunch, the Ambassador and her driver went back to Washington, and I took Mr. Matthews back to Brooklyn.”
McIntosh said the New York consulate is largely paper‑based, as most core consular functions are handled through physical documentation rather than a central digital database.
“Passport and travel document applications are submitted and processed in physical form,” McIntosh said.
“Notarial services, repatriation of human remains, immigration and deportation matters, community liaison and other consular functions are handled through physical documentation and correspondence –not stored on a server or database as digital files that could simply be wiped.”
He continued:
“What happens at the consulate is not stored on any server. There’s no central database as digitised files that could simply be wiped,” he said.
He said that copies of all important consular records and documentation are maintained at the consulate, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Immigration Office and the Registry in Kingstown.
He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has always had access to the official record.
“There is no scenario in which the removal of personal files from any one computer or all computers at the consulate office could erase the government’s institutional knowledge of its own operations,” he said and proceeded “to repeat this point again for those in the back”.
McIntosh contrasted his account of with what he described as a complete lack of prior engagement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or other state entity before Bramble went public.
“I left the consulate on March 3, which was my last day — my tenure officially ended, as I said, on Feb. 28…
“In the days that followed, I remained available and cooperative,” he said, adding that he had
indicated his willingness to finalise matters in person.
“I indicated that I would visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on my return to St. Vincent to sign off on financial accounts,” McIntosh said.
However, he said, almost two months passed without any official query to him about the computers or the handover.
“If this alleged discovery was so serious, why was I not contacted?” McIntosh said.
“Why was there no investigation, no inquiry, no request for explanation before a public accusation was levelled against me?”
He suggested that proper due diligence would have yielded a different conclusion.
“The answer, I believe, is because an honest inquiry would have quickly revealed that the allegation has no foundation,” he said.
McIntosh said Gilchrist’s report to the ministry supports his version of events.
“Ambassador Gilchrist subsequently reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that I, Rondy ‘Luta’ McIntosh, willingly and graciously complied in every respect with the handover instructions,” he said.
“And that the entire process was conducted decently, with all parties demonstrating due respect for one another and for the process at every stage.”
McIntosh suggested that the minister’s comments were an attack on his years of service, adding that he would not accept any implication of wrongdoing.
