JLP Govt finally admits

[Sickko]

they hired the US law firm to help in the Dudus matter...what say you now Lazie, you need more evidence or this is still a storm in a tea cup....

[Lionpaw]

put a letterhead pon it fi him deh.

[Lazie]

they hired the US law firm to help in the Dudus matter...what say you now Lazie, you need more evidence or this is still a storm in a tea cup....

Did they say there was a contract between the gov't and the law firm? I read the release didn't see that.

[Muadib]

No such thing occurred.

One can only hope you are being disingenuous.. the alternative is frightening..

[Mosiah]

If that is what they did, maybe some of us would be satisfied. Samuda said that some party members hired Brady, who then hired Manatt. I guess the stars just happened to have lined up perfectly for all this coincidence to take place.

The buck stops at the PM's desk. He must take full responsibility over this mess.

Then the govt. must resign. There is no other way.

[Mosiah]

You cannot be serious. We could not defend Trafigura. You should be ashamed trying to defend this.

The govt. must resign!

[Sir X]

Dangerous waters the JLP adm treads America will make a case of obstruction of Justice and it will be made to the top ,If need be , the time has passed for them to hand him over , it has reached the point of DASH IM OVA !

[Muadib]

Well.. mi can unnastan di sentiment..

Dat is di only way di PNP gwine unseat the Govt.. well.. at least for the forseeable future.. 12 years if dem lucky..

Contract a sign left right and centah.. recession easing..

Next election look rough fi di Comrades..

[Muadib]

Babylon need to explain how dem involved in the breaking of Jamaican Law.. dem soon get an extradition request fi deal wid demselves..

lol !

[Mosiah]

the usa should extradite the cop tomorrow. then what?

the govt needs to resign! NOW!

[Muadib]

hmm..

must admit dis one escape mi..

The Govt should resign because.... ?

[ReggaeMike]

Did they say there was a contract between the gov't and the law firm? I read the release didn't see that.

So anybody want to provide a link to the release?

Because the latest news story I am seeing on the Jamaica Gleaner website says:

http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=18831

Samuda admits JLP approached Manatt
2010-04-27 18:07:56 | (0 Comments)

After much pressure from local and international interests, the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has finally admitted that it had some involvement in an alleged deal with US law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips through local attorney Harold Brady.

In a statement this afternoon, the JLP general secretary Karl Samuda said members from the party approached Mr. Brady in September of last year to assist in facilitating discussions between the US authorities and the Jamaican Government to resolve what had become a treaty dispute between the two countries.

The statement by Mr. Samuda did not indicate the source of the treaty dispute.

According to him, it was expected that Mr. Brady, having served as a former Secretary-General of the International Democrat Union, an organisation of worldwide centre-right parties of which the JLP is an associate member, would use his vast experience in international law and politics to assist in this regard.

Mr. Samuda says he’s aware that Mr. Brady’s firm retained the services of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips on or about October 2009, to pursue discussions with relevant officials of the government.

He says he’s further advised that all payment arrangements to Manatt, Phelps & Phillips were transacted between the two firms.

It has been reported in a document on the US department of Justice website that Manatt would be paid US$100,000 per quarter for its work on behalf of the Jamaican Government.

However, Mr. Samuda has again reiterated that the government of Jamaica had nothing to do with any aspect of these arrangements.

He says the Solicitor-General, Douglas Leys went to Washington in December to have discussions with officials of the State and Justice Departments.

This meeting was arranged through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US Embassy in Jamaica.

Samuda further says the Solicitor-General and the team that accompanied him met with representatives of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips at Mr. Brady’s
invitation.

He says the discussions were exploratory and were focused on alternative approaches that have been taken in similar treaty disputes with the US.

Additionally, Mr. Samuda says the Solicitor-General, who has had no previous contact with Manatt, was not then aware that the firm had already been retained by Brady & Company.

And he says the solicitor general has had no further contact with the firm since that encounter in December.

Regarding media reports that a Minister of Government met with State Officials and Manatt, Mr. Samuda says Dr. Ronald Robinson, the junior minister in the foreign affairs and foreign trade ministry, while on a visit to Washington in November 2009 had a brief social encounter with a representative of the US law firm.

This was after he declined an invitation by Mr. Harold Brady to attend a meeting at the State Department.

and from this news story we see a contradiction:

this:

In a statement this afternoon, the JLP general secretary Karl Samuda said members from the party approached Mr. Brady in September of last year to assist in facilitating discussions between the US authorities and the Jamaican Government to resolve what had become a treaty dispute between the two countries.

and this:

Mr. Samuda has again reiterated that the government of Jamaica had nothing to do with any aspect of these arrangements.

cannot logically go together. If the GOJ had nothing to do with anything then it means Brady and other un-named members of the JLP committed some form of fraud/misrepresentation the moment Brady signed the contract stipulating him as a GOJ consultant and being authorized by the GOJ and when the money passed hands. If no misrepresentation happened then the GOJ must have had something to do with it or Samuda is asking us to believe that the GOJ just happened to be the beneficiary of actions by the zealous members of the JLP and Brady of which the GOJ was not aware (that in itself would be damning for Samuda and Golding because it means that the General Secretary and the President of the JLP might not have any control over their own party).

Something else that seems odd is the payment situation. Either Brady's firm paid for the services itself (which would mean Brady's statement about a "private client" makes little sense) or Brady's firm was paid by these over-zealous JLP members (which would square with Brady's verbal claim of a private client but not with the document he signed). However, if Brady's firm was paid by some JLP members, where did those JLP members get that kind of money from? Over J$4.4 million was paid over a few months and since political parties aren't normally profit-making businesses by themselves (they usually need to get into government and access government money) then where did they get this money from? And given the JLP members are un-named, what if Dudus happens to be a member of the JLP?

[Mosiah]

Are you asking these questions of Lazie? Yuh lucky! Mi not even gwine waste time talking to him or Maudib. Or anyone else who can't understand the gravity of the situation. Dem still a tek dis a joke.

There is only one way out of this for Brucie and his team.

Is it just me or the promised smell of roses is more like a fetid cow stool?

[ReggaeMike]

Are you asking these questions of Lazie? Yuh lucky! Mi not even gwine waste time talking to him or Maudib. Or anyone else who can't understand the gravity of the situation. Dem still a tek dis a joke.

There is only one way out of this for Brucie and his team.

Is it just me or the promised smell of roses is more like a fetid cow stool?

Well if Lazie wishes to continue blind man's bluff and not engage in the questions then that's up to him. I certainly won't call him a teabagger.

I was generally addressing the forum though since Lazie brought up the "release" and I was curious as to what was in the release other than what the newspapers reported (i.e. I wouldn't mind seeing the full release).

The latest news article (and previous revelations by Golding, Brady and Leys and the FARA documents) is certainly interesting in the amount of coincidences that seemed to occur:

1. Solicitor-General Leys claims Brady approached him "sometime in September" 2009 with the suggestion that the government should engage the services of MPP.

2. According to Samuda JLP members (privately) engage Brady to hire MPP to lobby on a "treaty issue" (which is not specified) "on or about October 2009" while MPP apparently is under the erroneous impression that it has a contract with the GOJ. [The FARA documents indicate the agreement that Brady signed was dated October 1, 2009 and it was filed with the Justice Department under the FARA Act on November 12, 2009. They also indicate that US$49,800 was paid on September 18, 2009 to Manatt.]

3. Dr. Ronald Robinson, junior minister in the ministry of foreign affairs and foreign trade whilst on a visit to Washington in November 2009 declines an invitation by Mr. Brady to attend a meeting at the State Department and then afterwards had a brief (chance?) social encounter with a representative of Manatt. [The FARA documents indicate that MPP had a meeting, email exchange and telephone conversation on October 13, 14 and 15 respectively with a National Intelligence officer and State Department officials and then another meeting on November 20, 2009 with the State Department.]

4. Solicitor General Leys and Brady are on a plane to Washington in December and Brady (again apparently) brings up MPP to Leys. Upon Brady's invitation, Leys then allows a MPP official to sit in on discussions between the GOJ and US Gov which mainly focus on the extradition of Dudus just in case MPP's services are required in the future. At the time, Samuda claims, Leys was unaware that Brady's firm had a contract with Manatt.

5. On February 8, 2010 the arrangement between Brady's firm (and whoever it was representing) and Manatt is terminated and notice of this is given to the Justice Department under the FARA Act on March 18, 2010. Right up until March 18, 2010 Manatt still wrote about the GOJ being their client through Brady.

Mr. Brady certainly seems to feature prominently in this whole episode: Lobbied Leys in September about MPP, entered into a signed agreement in October, invites Dr. Robinson to a State Department meeting in November, talked to Leys again in December and got Leys to invite an MPP rep to sit in on inter-governmental meetings (all the while not disclosing that he had retained Manatt)......

[Muadib]

I agree.. there is only one 'way out' of this for Brucie and his team..

Hold up.. what is this by the way...?

Mi cyaan tek it nuh longer.. summady solve dis puzzle.. it appears from the sounds coming from certain quarters to be something of dire consequences.. but for all I know it could just be Comrade gas..