I told you so!

Gordon Robinson, Contributor

Congratulations to The Gleaner for its excellent investigative journalism, resulting in Sunday's front page exposé.

However, nothing published there brings any new perspective to the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (MPP) issue. All this could have been and was, in fact, already concluded from the available evidence.

I told you, in a column published on Sunday, April 18, (Face the large green elephant), nothing in the actions of Harold Brady resulted in a contract between the Government and MPP but that the evidence of such a contract was obvious from the solicitor general's (SG) own actions. I wrote:

"The subsequent actions of the SG, after he was lobbied to retain that firm by Brady, are the actions of an SG who has either contracted informally with MPP, and/or accepted that Brady and MPP's 'arrangement' was good enough for him to act upon and use their services - either or both with the full approval of his attorney general; or is an incorrigible nitwit."

There was never need to see any emails although the fact of correspondence was important. I told you, long before Driva's mea culpa, that this was a JLP initiative with which the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) had joined through its officials the SG and attorney general:

"All over the world, influential lobbyists are retained by this politically obfuscatory method ... This JLP Government will not be the first where the right hand didn't know what the left was doing (or, to be more precise, the brain didn't know what both hands were doing). One thing cannot be denied: if a political party in Government, faced with this kind of political hot potato, decided to retain American lobbyists to try to convince the US government to withdraw the Dudus extradition request, this is exactly how it would be done."

I categorically concluded, based on the available evidence:

"Any court looking at these facts would ... conclude that the GOJ did avail itself of MPP's services, and that MPP did work on the GOJ's behalf."

SG actions

I emphasised the media's folly of concentrating on the actions of a private lawyer, privately retained, when they ought to be focusing on the actions of the SG:

"Mark you, these days we do not use courts to resolve disputes like this. We prefer to vilify Harold Brady; ask the attorney general to decide, based on the SG's opinion, whether evidence was illegally obtained despite the unavailability of most of the relevant facts; then, under pressure from influential national bodies, instruct the attorney general to ask the court to second-guess the SG and render a free second opinion ... ; then ask the SG to pronounce on Brady's conduct despite the obvious conflict arising from the SG's own involvement."

Now we know that the SG allowed himself to be directed by Harold Brady from as far back as September 19 when he casually sent an email to MPP on Brady's instructions without knowing where he, the legal advisor to the GOJ, was sending official government information. And the nonsense excuse that it came from his personal email address only proves he knew it was wrong to have sent it. Douglas Leys would never have been able to send that email at all because he would not be privy to the information therein detailed. The solicitor general for Jamaica sent that email from wherever.

Now we know that he didn't have a coincidental first meeting with Brady on a December plane to Washington. He was in it up to his wing collar with Brady sharing official government information from before September 19. His lame excuse that he was talking to several lawyers only makes it worse. I'll bet that he didn't share the same information with other private lawyers or do as he was told by them.

So this only confirms what we already knew. But the questions in my April 18 piece remain unanswered.

"The real question is: Did the Government intend to use MPP ... specifically to lobby the US government to withdraw its extradition request for Dudus? The GOJ's panic reaction strongly suggests [this] regardless of who within the Government is aware of the fullness of the engagement.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Jamaican media, this is where you should be focused. Why did the GOJ (through the actions of the SG) use MPP? Was it specifically for Dudus' benefit? If so, who is footing the bill? Are the taxpayers of Jamaica paying, either directly, from the Consolidated Fund, or indirectly, through sham GOJ contracts to the notorious 'contractor'?"

Peace and Love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com