Wednesday, November 18, 2009
THE Opposition People's National Party yesterday upped the pressure on the Jamaica Labour Party administration to answer its questions on its handling of extradition requests, giving the Government 21 days to make a response to the Parliament.
Phillips... called on Golding to 'indicate how many persons have been extradited from Jamaica between September 2007 and the present'
The move is an apparent attempt to corner the administration after several manoeuvres to get it to respond to calls to release Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke to the United States failed.
Coke is wanted in the US on charges of smuggling narcotics into that country and conspiring to export guns to Jamaica. The American government has requested his extradition for trial.
Member of Parliament for East Central St Andrew Dr Peter Phillips tabled the questions, which, though generally phrased and made no attempts to name Coke, would require the Government to frame a response with information on that particular extradition request.
The questions, which were not read into the records of the House yesterday, called on Golding - who is member of Parliament for West Kingston, in which Tivoli Gardens is located - to "indicate how many persons have been extradited from Jamaica between September 2007 (when it took office) and the present, and for what offences".
They further asked that the prime minister "indicate the period of time that elapsed between the receipt of the request and the issuance of the extradition warrant".
Furthermore, Golding was called upon to indicate how many extradition requests have been received since August 2009 (the time Coke's extradition request was made) and November 2009 and also to say the action taken in relation to each.
The prime minister is also expected to say whether he considered it beneficial that Jamaica maintains extradition treaties and mutual legal assistance treaties with international partners in order to effectively combat organised crime.
THE Opposition People's National Party yesterday upped the pressure on the Jamaica Labour Party administration to answer its questions on its handling of extradition requests, giving the Government 21 days to make a response to the Parliament.
Phillips... called on Golding to 'indicate how many persons have been extradited from Jamaica between September 2007 and the present'
The move is an apparent attempt to corner the administration after several manoeuvres to get it to respond to calls to release Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke to the United States failed.
Coke is wanted in the US on charges of smuggling narcotics into that country and conspiring to export guns to Jamaica. The American government has requested his extradition for trial.
Member of Parliament for East Central St Andrew Dr Peter Phillips tabled the questions, which, though generally phrased and made no attempts to name Coke, would require the Government to frame a response with information on that particular extradition request.
The questions, which were not read into the records of the House yesterday, called on Golding - who is member of Parliament for West Kingston, in which Tivoli Gardens is located - to "indicate how many persons have been extradited from Jamaica between September 2007 (when it took office) and the present, and for what offences".
They further asked that the prime minister "indicate the period of time that elapsed between the receipt of the request and the issuance of the extradition warrant".
Furthermore, Golding was called upon to indicate how many extradition requests have been received since August 2009 (the time Coke's extradition request was made) and November 2009 and also to say the action taken in relation to each.
The prime minister is also expected to say whether he considered it beneficial that Jamaica maintains extradition treaties and mutual legal assistance treaties with international partners in order to effectively combat organised crime.
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