KINGSTON, Jamaica – Prime Minister Bruce Golding today emphatically denied tipping off reputed drug lord, Christopher Dudus” Coke, after an extradition warrant for his arrest had been served on Jamaica by the United States authorities.
Golding, appearing on the final day of the sitting of the Commission of Enquiry probing the circumstances that led to the extradition of Coke last June, that he “certainly” did not tip off Coke following the arrival of the extradition request in August 2009.
“No, certainly not,” the Prime Minister told attorney Patrick Anderson, who is representing former national security minister, Dr. Peter Phillips.
“I have not seen or spoken to Coke for at least a year and a half before the extradition request,” the Prime Minister said, adding “the last time I spoke with him was during the Christmas period of 2007”.
Security forces who raided an office Coke occupied in Tivoli Gardens during the May 2010 incursion found a copy of the extradition request during a search.
Golding said he did not know how the document found its way into Coke’s office.
During his cross examination today, the Prime Minister refused to withdraw a claim he made that the conduct of Isaiah Parnell the Charge d’Affaires at the United States Embassy here, constituted harassment.
Anderson had asked the Prime Minister whether or not he would withdraw the charge of ‘telephone harassment’ which was a serious criminal offence in the United States. Washington has already indicated that it would be responding to claims made by witnesses, following the conclusion of the enquiry. “Are you prepared to withdraw the comment?” Atkinson asked.
“No. “We were told not to allow diplomatic officials to parade through the Government unless it is in relation to a particular matter,” the Prime Minister replied, arguing that that Parnell refused to follow the accepted procedures.
“You speak to the Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the Prime Minister said, noting that the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne felt troubled by Parnell’s conduct. “He was presumptuous enough to tell her how that authority should be exercised, Jamaica couldn’t do that with the United States.”
The Commission of Enquiry was set up by the government last October to probe the events leading up to Coke’s extradition, including the hiring of the US law firm, Manatt, Phelps and Phillips. More than 70 people were killed in fierce gun battles between gunmen loyal to Coke and members of the security forces who went into Coke’s Tivoli Gardens stronghold to arrest him last May. (CMC)
