Editorial | Chang needs to clarify tainted payments

Horace Chang, the national security minister, is obligated to provide further and better particulars regarding his claim that several of the big crime sprees across Jamaica were occasioned by criminals seeking money to pay lawyers. For without more, Dr Chang could well leave the impression that some lawyers are in cahoots with the bad guys.

The problem is that not knowing which of them to trust, all lawyers, as was noted by Jamaican Bar Association President Emile Leiba, fall under suspicion. That is not only bad for the reputation of lawyers, but could potentially threaten people’s access, if not right, to legal representation because of their fear of taint by association.

Dr Chang’s statement was particularly chilling because of the context in which it was made – in the face of this year’s uptick in homicides, and in response to a question about a shooting incident in the parish of Clarendon in which four people were killed. “Some of the big, armed robberies in the centre of the island are the result of gangsters looking for money to pay lawyers, because you have intercepted and arrested a number of their colleagues,” the minister said.

Dr Chang, however, offered no evidence for his claim, saying that he couldn’t go into details.

CRIMINALLY LIABLE

Two facts, though, are noteworthy. Lawyers who knowingly accept such payments would be accessories to the crimes and, therefore, criminally liable. Even if the lawyers didn’t know of the tainted sources of the money, the criminals are without entitlement to the fruits of their crimes, of which Dr Chang suggests the authorities are likely to be aware, despite the possible attempts to launder the cash.

If the police know lawyers who are part of such schemes, they should arrest and prosecute them. The criminals who pull off these heists, since they appear to be known to law enforcement, should also be made to face the courts. Merely bruiting claims that lawyers are being paid with tainted money, without more, is a potential drag on an important arm of the justice system.