Deception abounds in Manatt issue

Linton Gordon, Contributor

Instead of going away, the issue surrounding the American law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips is becoming more and more a part of us. The statement issued by Karl Samuda has raised far more questions than answers. Indeed, it is questionable whether Mr Samuda's statement has in fact given any answers.

For example, his assertion that Manatt was retained by members of the Jamaica Labour Party is a grave insult to the Government of the United States. This is so because what Mr Samuda has admitted to is that the Jamaican delegation which was led by our solicitor general gave the Americans the impression that our delegation to the State Department included an observer representing the Government of Jamaica under a retainer from Harold Brady.

This is a serious act of deception carried out against a country with which we have strong economic, cultural and political ties. As I believe that for a start, the Government should immediately apologise to the Americans and give them our assurance that we will not commit such acts against them again. If we are to accept the position of Manatt, namely that they were acting on behalf of the Government of Jamaica, then we have to accept that a deception was carried against the law firm in so far as they were made to believe that they were retained by a consultant of the Jamaican Government to represent the Jamaican Government.

Manatt maintains that they are under the impression that the fee they received was being paid by the Jamaican Government and no one else. Harold Brady needs to explain this one, for it is he who retained the law firm, Manatt. As a Jamaican, I am extremely embarrassed to see the extent of deceit and misrepresentation that my country has carried out against a friendly state.

There are, however, other aspects of this matter that need to be addressed. The attorney general is now out to get a policeman who is said to have passed on the information collected on the conduct of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke. The attorney general has expressed the intention to prosecute this police officer for allegedly passing such information to the Americans.

But why is the attorney general not prepared to use that information to prosecute anyone here in Jamaica? What if the information is about murder, weapon smuggling and the commission of a multiplicity of crimes in Jamaica and abroad? Are we to understand that the attorney general is prepared to allow these persons who commit these crimes to go free and may even call them as witnesses against the constable who she is after?

It seems that should the 'wanted constable' be brought back to Jamaica, he would be in grave danger of being sent to prison for being an informer. How then can we take the Minister of National Security Dwight Nelson and the Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington seriously when they ask us to give the police information on criminal activities in our communities?

interrogate lewin

There is a Mutual Assistance (Criminal Matters) Act. Under this act, information on criminal activities in Jamaica can be properly passed on to designated states including the US. We need to know from the attorney general if the 'informer constable' was authorised by his superior officers to pass on the information. If he was so authorised, the person in charge of the constabulary force at the time was Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin. It seems to me that as an initial step in the investigation of the informer constable, the person that should be taken into custody is Rear Admiral Lewin.

If it was Lewin who authorised the passing of information to the Americans, then the attorney general should take steps to have him arrested forthwith. There ought to be a need to arrest Lewin and interrogate him. After all, Lewin would be the 'head informer'. With the arrest and conviction of Lewin, there would be no need to go after the little constable who was no doubt merely carrying out the instructions of Lewin.

In all of this, the only thing that is clear is that the country has lost its way. There is a growing perception that the Golding administration is now a captured one, no longer accountable to the electorate of this country but to persons who wield power in ways not fully understood by all Jamaicans.

I am, etc.,

LINTON P GORDON

lpgordon@cwjamaica.com

Ocho Rios PO

St Ann