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Solicitor general refuses to weigh in on JLP's involvement in 'Dudus' extradition proceedings

SOLICITOR GENERAL Douglas Leys yesterday declined to comment on whether it was inappropriate for a representative of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to have been discussing matters of treaty and the extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke in Washington, DC, with representatives of the United States government.

Leys' attorney Winston Spaulding attempted to block the question, saying it and others were unfair, speculative and aimed at creating conflict for sensational results. But after a near 15-minute stand-off between Patrick Atkinson, attorney representing Dr Peter Phillips, and Spaulding, Leys was compelled to answer the question. His response was short.

"I can't answer that question," the solicitor general said.

PM aware of meeting

Leys told the commission that Prime Minister Bruce Golding was aware he met with representatives of United States (US) law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Washington in December 2009.

The solicitor general said he, on his return from Washington, briefed the prime minister that he met with the representatives of the firm while there to discuss treaty issues as well as the extradition request for Coke. He also told the prime minister that attorney-at-law Harold Brady had introduced him to the lawyers. Leys said Golding did not tell him that Brady was, on his instructions, in Washington to meet with Manatt to help the JLP negotiate with the US on the matter of the extradition.

The JLP paid nearly US$50,000 to Manatt to act on the party's behalf on the same day the Government of Jamaica first wrote to the US to say it had concerns with the request for Coke. A representative of Manatt subsequently sat in on the meeting in which Jamaican and American officials discussed the matter of the extradition request for Coke, as well as the extradition treaty between Jamaica and the US.

"The Government was contemplating hiring him and the representatives of the State Department said they knew him," Leys said while arguing he was not aware the Manatt representative was hired by the JLP.

Coke, who the commission has heard is an influential member of the JLP and a member of Golding's West Kingston constituency, is charged in the US for gun and drug trafficking.

Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne delayed signing the authority to proceed for nine months. When it was finally signed, Coke's loyalists barricaded him in Tivoli Gardens, leading to a police-military operation to secure his capture. The operations resulted in the deaths of more than 70 people.