Christie probes apparent Gov't links to agreement

[Lazie]

Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter
A MULTImillion-dollar contract, around which questions have been raised about the Government's involvement with United States law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, through local attorney Harold Brady, has caught the eye of Contractor General Greg Christie.
"The matter has our attention," Christie told The Gleaner yesterday, noting that his office has obtained copies of the documents which are on the United States Justice Department's website.
The Office of the Contractor General (OCG), an oversight body of the Government, is responsible for monitoring and investigating government contracts, licences and permits.
Reports collected
Christie said a team has been assigned to comb through the documents. He also pointed out that his office has requested a copy of an interview that radio station Nationwide 90FM conducted with Brady yesterday morning. Reports from both the electronic and print media have also been collected by the OCG.
Senior Opposition MP, Dr Peter Phillips, on Tuesday confronted Prime Minister Bruce Golding about the contractual arrangement with Brady. Phillips had asked the prime minister if Brady had been representing the Government in extradition matters in the United States.
Golding, however, dismissed the suggestion, charging the "Government of Jamaica has not engaged any legal firm, any consultant, any entity whatsoever, in relation to any extradition matter."
He stressed that the Government only used the resources available to it in the Attorney General's Department.
According to the contract, the US law firm is to be paid US$100,000 (approximately J$9,000,000) per quarter for its services.
edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead2.html

[Lazie]

'It was a mistake'



Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

Attorney-at- law Harold Brady took to the airwaves yesterday in an effort to blow away the stormy clouds which have hovered above the Government since allegations surfaced on Tuesday that his offices had contracted a United States law firm on behalf of the Government.

However, Brady's defence failed to quiet the Opposition People's National Party (PNP), which argued that he raised more questions than he answered regarding the relationship between the Government and the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
The Government also continued to distance itself from the deal

and the insinuation that the American law firm had been retained to lobby US authorities on behalf of Jamaica in the ongoing imbroglio over the extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

"The Government has no contractual arrangement with Mr Brady, Harold Brady & Company or any other private law firm in relation to the current extradition matter," Information Minister Daryl Vaz declared during a post-Cabinet media briefing yesterday.
Vaz's claim was echoed by Brady, who said allegations that he was acting on behalf of the Government were unfounded.
That denial came despite documents submitted to the US Deaprtment of Justice which stated that Manatt, Phelps and Phillips was acting on behalf of: "The government of Jamaica through Harold C.W. Brady".
"I have not been retained by the Government to act on its behalf in the matters referred to by the Member of Parliament (Senior Opposition member Dr Peter Phillips)," Brady said in a press release.
Subsequently corrected
He later told The Gleaner that the document which indicated that the US firm was operating on behalf of the Jamaican government was subsequently corrected.
"It was an error through a footnote which was corrected last year," Brady said, even though he gave no explanation as to why he signed the document with the incorrect information.
That is one of several questions which Phillips, the Opposition's point man, believes must be answered.
"We need to have the air fully cleared, not so much by Mr Brady, but by the Government who, on the face of the documents filed with the US Department of Justice, Mr Brady purports to represent," Phillips told The Gleaner.
"If he does not represent the Government, then that would be a serious issue which I would expect the Government to take up in different quarters," added Phillips as he rejected Brady's claim that the link between the law firm and the Government was by way of a footnote.
Phillips pointed to what he said was a damning statement appearing before Brady's signature on the original document.
Authorised
"The undersigned, Harold Brady, consultant to the Government of Jamaica, hereby confirms that he is authorised on behalf of the government of Jamaica to approve of the engagement of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips as set forth in this letter," the statement reads.
Phillips said: "If somebody signs as being authorised by the Government of Jamaica and they do not represent Jamaica, then it begs some action."
That is a position supported by Vaz, who had earlier told the post-Cabinet media briefing that action would be taken if it was proven that anyone falsely claimed to be representing the Government.
"If it is that anybody has signed or done anything indicating that they were acting on behalf of the Government, then they must either provide that evidence or whatever sanctions that need to be carried out are carried out," said Vaz.
Yesterday, The Gleaner was unsuccessful in its attempts to get a comment from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead1.html

[Mosiah]

how does one make a mistake like this!?!

[Rudi]

This one looks like a job for the grand spinmaster. LOL. Morning Lazie you know say everything criss. Friends again?

[Lazie]

This one looks like a job for the grand spinmaster. LOL. Morning Lazie you know say everything criss. Friends again?

Mawning boss!

[Lazie]

how does one make a mistake like this!?!

Well, Christie will get to the bottom of it. Heard Brady saying the correction was made from last October, if thats the case, why was the 'incorrect' document provided to the State Department?

[Mosiah]

This is a total embarrassment!

Bruce goes to parliament, either plain LYING or ignorant of the facts, and proceeds to insult the opposition and Dr. Phillips. Well, yesterday, he admits to having "some contact" with the law firm and now has demanded that Brady fix whatever he needs to fix to demonstrate that nutttn never a gwaan!

From I bawn! For a Prime Minister to lie to the Jamaican people in such an arrogant fashion - time to step, Bruce! For this and a host of other reasons, time to step!

Frigging eediat!

[Lazie]

This is a total embarrassment!

Bruce goes to parliament, either plain LYING or ignorant of the facts, and proceeds to insult the opposition and Dr. Phillips. Well, yesterday, he admits to having "some contact" with the law firm and now has demanded that Brady fix whatever he needs to fix to demonstrate that nutttn never a gwaan!

From I bawn! For a Prime Minister to lie to the Jamaican people in such an arrogant fashion - time to step, Bruce! For this and a host of other reasons, time to step!

Frigging eediat!

Twisting the truth Mosiah. The man said there was no contract. Now unless someone can dispute that where did he lie? Mi convince Bruce tek whey yuh girl or objected to you dating his daughter or something.

[Mosiah]

A di new lick dis? - "tek whey yuh girl"?

Lazie, I am prepared to step back and allow this one to flesh itself out.

Call mi when everyting dun set and curry!

[Willi]

In the words of Karl Samuda....

Mi neva know seh a suh Forum sweet!

Unna a kill mi to rhatid.
MDYADWL!

[MdmeX]

What a bacchanal!!

[Lionpaw]

Lazy(ie), Call bruce and tell him say mi have a rope him can borrow fi heng himself; but him affi return it cause a mi skippin rope.

[Lazie]

Lazy(ie), Call bruce and tell him say mi have a rope him can borrow fi heng himself; but him affi return it cause a mi skippin rope.

Why should he hang himself? You people are really comical. The gov't said there is no contract, Brady said he is not a consultant for the gov't, yet unuh still getting twisted. Wait until something of substance come forth nuh?

[Lionpaw]

Why should he hang himself? You people are really comical. The gov't said there is no contract, Brady said he is not a consultant for the gov't, yet unuh still getting twisted. Wait until something of substance come forth nuh?

u think a dat alone a di issue? bruce not even knee deep, him nose deep in manure ya now. anybody who still a defend him is seen as a heediat now because him excuses/explanations are only rational to real heediats or fool-hearted supporters(figure out which umbrella you under).