EDITORIAL - Much more to be resolved in the Manatt case

To give Mr Douglas Leys the benefit of the doubt is to contemplate naivety we did not associate with Jamaica's solicitor general, a respected attorney with substantial success at the public bar.

We accept this to be possible. So, to Mr Leys goes the benefit of the doubt.

It is entirely possible, too, that Prime Minister Bruce Golding and his attorney general, Dorothy Lightbourne, did not have the benefit of the briefing promised by Harold Brady in an email on December 18, 2009 to Manatt's official Susan Schmidt.

In that regard, it might be possible for the prime minister to have been as ignorant, as he claimed, of the breadth and depth of his administration's involvement with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in their attempt to get America to go soft on Jamaica over Mr Golding's waffle in the extradition of then west Kingston don Christopher Coke.

Notwithstanding these possibilities, some timelines and a bit of context that can be assumed from the email communication between Mr Leys and Manatt are relevant.

A call to recap events

The December 18 series of emails were days after Mr Leys' trip to Washington, DC, when he bumped into Mr Brady, who raised the possibility of Manatt helping in the extradition imbroglio. Ms Schmidt suggested to Mr Bailey a call to recap events, including, we presume, developments in Washington.

Mr Brady's response: "We have to talk on Monday after we have had a chance to brief the PM and the AG."

Several emails were exchanged between Mr Leys, Mr Brady and Manatt officials to settle a date for that conference call. It might have happened on Christmas Eve. Incidentally, one of Mr Leys' deputy, Mr Lackston Robinson, was copied on this conference call, so would have been in the loop.

Over the next several weeks, emails relating to strategy for dealing with Americans passed between Leys, Brady and Manatt's lawyers. None was more emblematic than one on December 28, when Manatt's Ms Schmidt provided two versions of a press release suggesting that Jamaica and the United States were working to resolve their differences over the Coke extradition. One made the partnership more explicit and require Washington's agreement.

Mr Leys suggested: "Why don't we put one, the joint one, first and if they object, we could always say that we will reconsider ..."

Manatt's investment in the cause

It would require a very hefty dose of faith in the kindness of man for Mr Leys to assume that Manatt, over several weeks, had invested so heavily in Jamaica's cause in the hope that they might, some time in the future, be formally engaged by the Jamaican Government.

Supposing Mr Golding did not get his briefing and that party officials went beyond the scope of the engagement sanctioned with Manatt in his role as leader of the JLP - remember, not prime minister - there are still issues to be resolved.

The PM must name the officials who, ostensibly, overreached, and say what sanctions will be taken against them. The JLP must reveal who provided the cash used by Mr Brady to pay Manatt, and whether those persons were misled about what they were paying for.

Since the Government insists its aim was never the protection of Christopher Coke, it should cause to be revealed all other communication and correspondence between the key players in this matter and Manatt's officials.

There is, it seems, still much truth to be told.

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