More revealed at Manatt enquiry

FORMER POLICE Commissioner Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin said yesterday that National Security Minister Dwight Nelson told him the Jamaica Labour Party government could fall if it rushed to extradite Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

Lewin said he was at a routine meeting with Nelson when he enquired about what was holding up the process to extradite Coke.

Dorothy Lightbourne, the attorney general and justice minister, had been in possession of the documents but had not signed the authority to proceed.

"Minister then said to me, 'CP, you don't understand. This matter could cause the Government to collapse'," Lewin said in his testimony.

Lewin also told the commission of enquiry that soon after the extradition request arrived, he called Solicitor General Douglas Leys to get an update on the request.

"He told me that the documentation is with the minister (of justice) and that the documentation is in order, he has so advised her, but that she is making some amount of a fuss as to why the undue haste to get her to sign the document."