Allegations against Mitchell surfaced earlier this year, after an article published in the April edition of an Offshore Alert publication, based in Miami, accused him of accepting US$500,000 in June 2000 from a German man, Eric Resteiner, in exchange for a diplomatic positing as an ambassador for the country.

Then, in 2002, Resteiner was arrested and extradited to the United States to face multi-million-dollar fraud charges. His bodyguard subsequently swore to an affidavit in which he said that he had video-taped Resteiner giving Mitchell the US$500,000.