Nicholson Minister of Justice and Attorney-General A.J. Nicholson, Q.C., has castigated the lawyers representing the two Montego Bay businessmen for failing to take immediate action to secure a stay for them after they lost their appeals against extradition orders on Friday afternoon.
He said the two Jamaican men, Leebert Ramcharan and Donovan 'Plucky' Williams, were represented by extremely experienced attorneys-at-law at the extradition proceedings in the courts.
"A simple telephone call could have been made to the Minister of Justice or to his office, to the Solicitor General or one of the attorneys in the Attorney-General's Chambers, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice or even to the Director of Public Prosecutions to the effect that further proceedings were contemplated," the minister emphasised.
'Unseemly haste'
Mr. Nicholson noted that Frank Phipps, Q.C., who represented Williams, issued a statement on Monday in which he sought to "cast blame on the Minister of Justice" for acting "with unseemly haste" in facilitating the removal of the men from the custody of the Jamaican authorities.
The men were flown out of the island early Sunday morning to face trial in the United States for conspiracy to import, possess and distribute cocaine in the U.S.A.
Lawyers representing the men had said that it was their plan to ask the minister on Monday for a stay. They said a Jamaican man was challenging the Extradition Act before the United Kingdom Privy Council on the grounds that the act was unconstitutional and so they wanted the two men to remain in the island until that decision was handed down.
In responding yesterday in a statement titled 'Whose fault was it?' the minister said an "accusing finger" must not be pointed at the Government for sending the two Montego Bay businessmen to the U.S.A. on Sunday morning.
He said the objective bystander who heard Mr. Phipps' broadside was entitled to be made aware of the facts. He said the request for the extradition of the two men was effected in March 2004. The minister said the Court of Appeal was the court of last resort in extradition matters and any further proceeding would therefore be extraordinary in character.
No indication of further step
When the judgement of the Court of Appeal was handed down about midday on Friday last, Mr. Nicholson said none of the attorneys-at-law intimated to the court that any further step was to be taken on behalf of the men.
He said the attorneys-at-law did not see it fit to have a prepared letter in their possession, addressed to the Minister of Justice to hand to the legal representatives of the Government in case their submissions did not not find favour with the Court of Appeal.
"These experienced attorneys did not see it fit to have documents already prepared, even holding documents to file in the Supreme Court or in the Court of Appeal on that same day, in the event of failure before the Court of Appeal," he said.
