The Jamaican extradition enquiry - was it worth it?

by Oscar Ramjeet


As the Dudus/Manatt Enquiry comes to an end in Jamaica, one wonders if the well publicised and talked about enquiry was worth it -- not only in terms of its high cost, but the verbal abuse and clashes between lawyers, politicians, and even public servants.

Even those who advocated the setting up of the commission of enquiry felt that the exercise was not worth it -- the entire proceedings turned out to be a farce, a gimmick, and a platform to criticise and embarrass government officials, including the head of government, prime minister Bruce Golding, and the administration's chief legal advisor, the attorney general and minister of justice Dorothy Lightbourne.

Reports from Kingston state that the setting up of the commission of enquiry was political suicide for Prime Minister Bruce Golding and his Jamaica Labour Party administration.

People's National Party's lawyer, K.D. Knight QC, was on centre stage, using his legal position to embarrass Golding and Lightbourne, who had no choice but to take the "blows" and answer the questions, although the same questions were repeated over and over and at one stage the prime minister refused to answer after being accused of being a liar.

Political analyst Kevin Chang said that Knight's behaviour has distracted from the issues being probed at the proceedings and said that the Queen's Counsel’s behaviour was out of order and he was rude to the prime minister, the minister of justice and others. Chang made a comment that raised eyebrows when he said, "The commissioners have also been timid about making firm rulings against Knight for fear of appearing biased because they were chosen by government."

Why should these honourable and distinguished members of the Commission be timid? Knight is so powerful. He is a senator, a top notch lawyer and served as minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade as well as minister of national security, but that does not give him licence to bully his way.

He has certainly transformed the enquiry into a different direction, instead of trying to ascertain the reason for the delay in extraditing Coke, and if it was the government of Jamaica retained the law firm of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips or the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), and who should be blamed for the death of more than 70 persons.

Lightbourne made some serious statements that should be tested when she blamed the deputy director of public prosecutions Jeremy Taylor and solicitor general Douglas Leys.

However, what was worse was the battering of the prime minister by KD Knight and at times milking the enquiry for all the political fuel he could wring out of it. Surely Golding, before he set up the commission, must have thought that he would have to testify and he would be cross-examined.

One commentator who was at the enquiry said, "I felt ashamed, seeing him being visibly rankled and literally crying out." The commentator asked, "Did he not know that was Knight's objective? To psychologically destabilise him, to up his pressure, to get him red in the face and then to do so in front of the nation. Did he not see it coming?”

The entire fiasco was being televised for the entire nation to see. Was that a good move?

The Jamaica Council of Churches has also weighed in and chided Knight and others for their "tasteless behaviour" and comments at the enquiry.

The government has allocated JA$37 million for the enquiry, but another $21 million has been added to it and this might not be enough because the exercise has taken more than double the time it had anticipated, no doubt because of the line of cross examination.

April 4, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding admits lobby on behalf of drug accused Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke

Jamaica PM admits lobby on behalf of wanted man
caribbean360.com:


KINGSTON, Jamaica, Wednesday May 12, 2010 – A controversy surrounding efforts by the United States to have a drug accused extradited, and the Jamaica government’s resistance to those moves, yesterday became even more contentious as Prime Minister Bruce Golding admitted that he gave the nod for a law firm to be hired to lobby the US government on the extradition issue.

His admission was met with strong criticism across the floor of Parliament, even as he insisted the company was hired and paid by his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and not the government.

Golding came clean on his involvement in the matter following weeks of allegations and claims that the government had engaged the services of US law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to intervene as the US pushed its request for the extradition of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, a member of the JLP stronghold of West Kingston who is wanted on gun and drug charges in the US.

“I sanctioned the initiative, knowing that such interventions have in the past proven to be of considerable value in dealing with issues involving the governments of both countries. I made it clear, however, that this was an initiative to be undertaken by the Party, not by or on behalf of the government,” Golding said yesterday.

“A payment of US$49,892.62 was made to Manatt, Phelps & Phillips on September 18th 2009. These funds were sourced from financial contributors to the Party. Rumours and speculation carried in the media that these funds were provided by Christopher Coke are completely false as the Party is fully aware of the source of these funds,” he added.

Prime Minister Golding further insisted that there was “absolutely nothing illegally or surreptitious” about what had been done, arguing that the engagement of lobbyists to act on behalf of foreign governments, political parties or corporations is a well-known practice in the United States governed by law.

Golding has been strongly resisting the attempt to extradite Coke on the grounds that wire-tap evidence gathered by the US authorities in their case against him was illegally obtained.

He said that the Extradition Treaty between Jamaica and the US specifies the type of information that must be provided in support of a request for extradition and maintained that the information presented in the Coke matter is unacceptable because “it has been used in violation of Jamaican law and in contravention of the expressed order of a Judge of the Supreme Court”.

“For the (Justice) Minister to ignore this violation and issue the authorization to proceed would be to condone and legitimize this violation and would be a dereliction of duty,” he said, adding that although the Jamaica government wrote formally to the US authorities back in September 2009 requesting additional or separate information that would enable Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne to sign the authorization to proceed, the US has “steadfastly refused to do so”.

“I wish to make it clear that the government will, without hesitation, facilitate the extradition of any Jamaican citizen wanted to stand trial for extraditable offences once the obligations under the Treaty are met. Christopher Coke is wanted for an alleged crime in the US for which he ought to be tried and the government of Jamaica, consistent with its obligations under the Treaty, will do everything necessary to facilitate his extradition once it is done in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty and the laws of our country,” Golding told the Parliament.

“Some argue that this is a matter for the Courts and not the Minister to determine. They are wrong! As I have already pointed out, the Treaty makes it clear that information sufficient to allow the Minister to authorize extradition proceedings must be presented before the request is submitted to the Courts. What we have, therefore, is a dispute regarding the application of the Treaty. A treaty dispute cannot be resolved by the Courts of either party to the dispute. This is why we have used every conceivable means to resolve this dispute through dialogue with the US authorities.”

Prime Minister Golding said that since the controversy and the suggestion that the government's stand is motivated by partisan considerations, his administration retained the services of a senior attorney to seek a declaration from the Court as to the duties of Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne and the matters she must properly take into account in exercising her authority under the Extradition Treaty.

JLP parliamentarians yesterday blasted Golding for not acknowledging his involvement in hiring Manatt, Phelps & Phillips earlier.

But the Prime Minister insisted that he replied truthfully when asked whether the Government of Jamaica had engaged the law firm’s services.

caribbean360

Bahamas Blog International

US probing 3 Jamaican Government Ministers

‘Dudus’ Grand Jury says officials blocking information

BY INVESTIGATIVE COVERAGE UNIT icu@jamaicaobserver.com


THREE unnamed senior government ministers are now under the microscope of the Grand Jury of the Southern District Court of New York which indicted Christopher 'Dudus' Coke last August on alleged gun and drug trafficking charges.

Well-informed Observer sources said the Americans are contending that the Jamaican Government officials had conspired to prevent information from reaching the Grand Jury in the Coke case — the latest in the fallout from the Manatt Phelps and Phillips law firm controversy.

Investigators probing breaches of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) involving the Government of Jamaica, and the US law firm are piecing together evidence they say will expose the alleged link between the government officials, Manatt Phelps and Phillips, and Coke, the Tivoli Gardens strongman.

The Observer sources said the investigators were focusing on two areas: conspiracy to prevent information reaching the Grand Jury, and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The investigators believe that the firm's service was retained by officials connected to the Government, to lobby Washington not to pressure Jamaica to extradite Coke. In that regard, several influential Americans connected to the US administration were contacted by the law firm, including the administration's nominee as Ambassador to Niger.

"A file from the probe was sent to the Grand Jury, in which the finger was pointed directly at the law firm and the Jamaican Government and the continued delay in the extradition warrant being discharged," the source said.

Opposition spokesman, Dr Peter Phillips who first raised the Manatt, Phelps and Phillips issue in the Parliament, said Good Friday that the matter was still wide open, as information filed by the company to United States officials up to Holy Thursday and that provided by government officials here was at variance.

"No, it's not over. It can't be over when the disparity between the two positions, that of the Government, and that of the firm, leaves too many unanswered questions..." Phillips told the Observer.

The Government said it had no dealings with Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, while the firm is maintaining that it had represented the Government and was paid US$50,000 on its US$100,000 invoice.

April 05, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International