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DPP's Request In Hibbert Case Never Sent To UK
Published: Friday | October 28, 20110 Comments
Llewellyn
Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer
Nearly four months after claiming Jamaica had asked law-enforcement officials in the United Kingdom (UK) for evidence that could bolster the corruption probe against parliamentarian Joseph Hibbert, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn has now admitted that the request never left her office.
However, Llewellyn blamed police investigators for the delay, claiming that for months they have failed to provide her office with "certain things" needed to "lay the basis in law" to support the request that is expected to be made under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).
"We have been trying to get certain things out of the police and we have a long line of correspondence ... . So the mutual legal assistance request cannot be completed because the outstanding materials have not been furnished by the police," she told The Gleaner.
"The people that you are requesting the information from demand certain things. If it's not up to scratch, you can't get it," added Llewellyn, who said she has requested a full report on the issue from the MLAT unit in her office.
Little info
Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds declined to comment when contacted, saying he did not have all the details about the case.
Several attempts to get a response from other police officials were unsuccessful.
In a Gleaner interview in July, Llewellyn said the MLAT request had been dispatched to UK authorities.
"It is a process, and certain things are being done, but that's all I am at liberty to say," Llewellyn said at the time, noting that MLAT matters were highly confidential.
Case on for two years
The investigation against Hibbert, the member of parliament for East Rural St Andrew and a former junior minister in the Ministry of Transport and Works, has dragged on for nearly two years.
The probe was triggered by allegations raised by UK-based bridge-building firm, Mabey & Johnson, that he accepted payments totalling £100,000 to help them win government contracts valued at millions of dollars.
For more than a year, local investigators have been trying to get important evidence gathered by UK authorities that was to be used in Mabey & Johnson's corruption trial.
Before the trial started in 2009, the firm pleaded guilty to bribing officials in several countries, including Jamaica, in order to win government contracts.
Following the guilty plea, Britain's Serious Fraud Office alleged that over an eight-year period, the firm paid out close to £100,000 "to buy the favours" of Hibbert - the chief technical director in the Ministry of Transport and Works at the time - to win several contracts, one of which was worth £14 million.
Hibbert has denied the allegations.
Last year the Jamaican police indicated that officials at Mabey & Johnson were cooperating with their probe and that several witnesses who gave evidence against the company were prepared to testify in Jamaica.
livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com
Published: Friday | October 28, 20110 Comments
Llewellyn
Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer
Nearly four months after claiming Jamaica had asked law-enforcement officials in the United Kingdom (UK) for evidence that could bolster the corruption probe against parliamentarian Joseph Hibbert, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn has now admitted that the request never left her office.
However, Llewellyn blamed police investigators for the delay, claiming that for months they have failed to provide her office with "certain things" needed to "lay the basis in law" to support the request that is expected to be made under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).
"We have been trying to get certain things out of the police and we have a long line of correspondence ... . So the mutual legal assistance request cannot be completed because the outstanding materials have not been furnished by the police," she told The Gleaner.
"The people that you are requesting the information from demand certain things. If it's not up to scratch, you can't get it," added Llewellyn, who said she has requested a full report on the issue from the MLAT unit in her office.
Little info
Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds declined to comment when contacted, saying he did not have all the details about the case.
Several attempts to get a response from other police officials were unsuccessful.
In a Gleaner interview in July, Llewellyn said the MLAT request had been dispatched to UK authorities.
"It is a process, and certain things are being done, but that's all I am at liberty to say," Llewellyn said at the time, noting that MLAT matters were highly confidential.
Case on for two years
The investigation against Hibbert, the member of parliament for East Rural St Andrew and a former junior minister in the Ministry of Transport and Works, has dragged on for nearly two years.
The probe was triggered by allegations raised by UK-based bridge-building firm, Mabey & Johnson, that he accepted payments totalling £100,000 to help them win government contracts valued at millions of dollars.
For more than a year, local investigators have been trying to get important evidence gathered by UK authorities that was to be used in Mabey & Johnson's corruption trial.
Before the trial started in 2009, the firm pleaded guilty to bribing officials in several countries, including Jamaica, in order to win government contracts.
Following the guilty plea, Britain's Serious Fraud Office alleged that over an eight-year period, the firm paid out close to £100,000 "to buy the favours" of Hibbert - the chief technical director in the Ministry of Transport and Works at the time - to win several contracts, one of which was worth £14 million.
Hibbert has denied the allegations.
Last year the Jamaican police indicated that officials at Mabey & Johnson were cooperating with their probe and that several witnesses who gave evidence against the company were prepared to testify in Jamaica.
livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com
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