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EDITORIAL - Mr Christie Should Investigate Manatt Scandal
Published: Sunday | May 16, 20100 Comments and 0 Reactions
Mr Greg Christie has been neither shy nor apologetic about placing the full weight of his office behind ensuring that the Government's procurement rules are adhered to, the contracting process is free of corruption, and that taxpayers receive value for money spent, ostensibly, on their behalf. That has been of benefit to Jamaica.
It is against this backdrop that this newspaper believes that Mr Christie, the contractor general, should be invited by Prime Minister Bruce Golding to investigate whether United States (US) law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips was, as it insists it was, or, as Mr Golding claims, lobbying for the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
Hopefully, Mr Christie would be able to unravel this matter, around which there has been obfuscation and lies, and determine whether the state apparatus was deliberately compromised and corruptly used in a procurement process aimed at benefiting a political party and private individual.
In March, the opposition parliamentarian, Dr Peter Phillips, brought to public attention that Manatt was lobbying the US authorities, apparently on Jamaica's behalf, in the row between Kingston and Washington over our Government's refusal to extradite West Kingston 'don', Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, who the Americans accuse of drug and gunrunning.
Mr Golding rejected any such claim, telling the Parliament and the country that the Government had deployed no resources other than what "are available in the Attorney General's Department".
Mr Harold Brady, a JLP official whose law firm engaged Manatt, claimed that he had made an error in declaring that he was an agent for the Jamaican Government, when in fact he represented private clients. He suggested that they were unaffiliated to the Coke case.
Half-truths
Mr Golding's administration continued to prevaricate on the matter, occasionally letting out half-truths, yet continuing to suggest that it was in no way connected to the deal with Manatt. That was until Mr Brady, angered by apparently being left to hang, threatened to spill the beans. So, on March 27, Karl Samuda, a senior minister and the JLP's general secretary, announced that it was "people within the JLP" who had approached Mr Brady about hiring American lobbyists.
But with the matter failing to die, last week, Mr Golding revealed that he had "sanctioned the initiative" by the JLP to hire Manatt. He said that Manatt's bill of approximately US$50,000, by the time the agreement was terminated, was paid by JLP financiers.
According to the prime minister, Manatt might have mistakenly concluded that it had been engaged by the Government because of an official meeting the Junior foreign minister, Dr Ronald Robinson, held with officials of the firm last November, and that an email address used by solicitor general Douglas Leys to send information to Mr Brady in fact belonged to Manatt. It is to be recalled that Mr Leys invited a Manatt lawyer to a meeting he attended at the State Department on the Coke affair in December. Manatt continues to insist, including in filings with the US Justice Department, that it represented the Jamaican Government.
The situation is ripe, we feel, for Mr Christie to trace how this contract overlap developed, the role, if any, played by Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne and Solicitor General Leys, both of whom are public officials and therefore fall within his remit. He must also trace the money, and whether there was a deliberate misrepresentation of the Jamaican State.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
Published: Sunday | May 16, 20100 Comments and 0 Reactions
Mr Greg Christie has been neither shy nor apologetic about placing the full weight of his office behind ensuring that the Government's procurement rules are adhered to, the contracting process is free of corruption, and that taxpayers receive value for money spent, ostensibly, on their behalf. That has been of benefit to Jamaica.
It is against this backdrop that this newspaper believes that Mr Christie, the contractor general, should be invited by Prime Minister Bruce Golding to investigate whether United States (US) law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips was, as it insists it was, or, as Mr Golding claims, lobbying for the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
Hopefully, Mr Christie would be able to unravel this matter, around which there has been obfuscation and lies, and determine whether the state apparatus was deliberately compromised and corruptly used in a procurement process aimed at benefiting a political party and private individual.
In March, the opposition parliamentarian, Dr Peter Phillips, brought to public attention that Manatt was lobbying the US authorities, apparently on Jamaica's behalf, in the row between Kingston and Washington over our Government's refusal to extradite West Kingston 'don', Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, who the Americans accuse of drug and gunrunning.
Mr Golding rejected any such claim, telling the Parliament and the country that the Government had deployed no resources other than what "are available in the Attorney General's Department".
Mr Harold Brady, a JLP official whose law firm engaged Manatt, claimed that he had made an error in declaring that he was an agent for the Jamaican Government, when in fact he represented private clients. He suggested that they were unaffiliated to the Coke case.
Half-truths
Mr Golding's administration continued to prevaricate on the matter, occasionally letting out half-truths, yet continuing to suggest that it was in no way connected to the deal with Manatt. That was until Mr Brady, angered by apparently being left to hang, threatened to spill the beans. So, on March 27, Karl Samuda, a senior minister and the JLP's general secretary, announced that it was "people within the JLP" who had approached Mr Brady about hiring American lobbyists.
But with the matter failing to die, last week, Mr Golding revealed that he had "sanctioned the initiative" by the JLP to hire Manatt. He said that Manatt's bill of approximately US$50,000, by the time the agreement was terminated, was paid by JLP financiers.
According to the prime minister, Manatt might have mistakenly concluded that it had been engaged by the Government because of an official meeting the Junior foreign minister, Dr Ronald Robinson, held with officials of the firm last November, and that an email address used by solicitor general Douglas Leys to send information to Mr Brady in fact belonged to Manatt. It is to be recalled that Mr Leys invited a Manatt lawyer to a meeting he attended at the State Department on the Coke affair in December. Manatt continues to insist, including in filings with the US Justice Department, that it represented the Jamaican Government.
The situation is ripe, we feel, for Mr Christie to trace how this contract overlap developed, the role, if any, played by Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne and Solicitor General Leys, both of whom are public officials and therefore fall within his remit. He must also trace the money, and whether there was a deliberate misrepresentation of the Jamaican State.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
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