PM prejudiced Dudus case, says Phillips

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

FORMER NATIONAL Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips has suggested that the Government may have 'prepared the wicket' for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke's court defence.

Coke, who has been accused by the United States of drug smuggling and gunrunning, is fighting extradition proceedings in court as a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

But Phillips has said the events leading to the Government's decision to sign an authority to proceed against him may be part of a wider plot to prevent Coke from being extradited.

"The way in which it has been done has not only the potential of prejudicing the court hearing, because if he filed an affidavit a few days ago to say that it was not valid, and then proceeds on the course that he is proceeding - I don't know how the courts will look at it: but whether by design originally or whether by chance, what he has done is prepared the case for Mr Coke and could contribute to further delay," Phillips said.

Breach of constitutional rights

Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne on Tuesday signed an order to proceed with extradition proceedings against Coke, days after a defiant Golding insisted that it would have been a breach of Coke's constitutional rights as material being used as evidence against him was illegally obtained.

Lightbourne and Golding have said that there were serious constitutional issues with the request because the US had breached the Interception of Communication Act, a law which specifies the circumstances under which a citizen's constitution rights to privacy can be invalidated.

Coke's attorney, Tom Tavares-Finson, who has turned over responsibility in the extradition case to Paul Beswick and Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, has already indicated his client would be challenging the order on the basis that Lightbourne and Golding have already declared that they needed further and better particulars and that the wiretapping evidence obtained against him was illegally sourced.

The parliamentary Opposition has consistently argued that Lightbourne should have sent the matter immediately to court and let it determine the admissibility of the evidence. However, Golding said the justice minister is "not a lubricated conduit".

"The minister of justice, in authorising extradition proceedings, has a duty to satisfy herself that they conform with the provisions of Jamaican law. As minister and, especially, as attorney general, she cannot authorise processes which she knows to be in violation of Jamaican law," Golding told Parliament on March 2.

Golding also said that he was prepared to pay a political price for his stance and that he was determined to establish that "constitutional rights do not begin at Liguanea", where the US Embassy is headquartered in Jamaica.

However, under public pressure, Lightbourne went to court seeking a declaration on her powers under the Extradition Act but the case folded as the presiding judge released the persons Lightbourne listed as defendants.

Phillips said Tuesday there were many questions which arose in relation to how the extradition issue was treated. He said he found it strange that Golding has "easily adjusted" his principled stance as "it was a matter which he was prepared to die politically for".

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com