'Prove it, Lewin'
Published: Thursday | July 8, 2010Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
Prime Minister Bruce Golding has challenged Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, the former police commissioner, to provide facts to back up his allegations that ousted west Kingston strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke was tipped off about the pending extradition request minutes after National Security Minister Dwight Nelson was briefed.
"All he has said is that in the 15 minutes he left Minister Nelson and came to me Coke was tipped off and bolted into Tivoli. Now, what I know of Tivoli is that Coke was there every day, so in a sense he bolts there every day," Golding told journalists in Montego Bay, St James, yesterday.
"But Mr Lewin cannot be allowed to stop there because even if each of us can make these unsubstantiated allegations and then people are demanding a commission of enquiry to determine the truth of those allegations, he must go further.
"He must say the basis on which I made that statement is as follows, so that we have something to respond to," added Golding.
The prime minister said when he was called by the security minister following the briefing by the then police commissioner, he had no idea what the matter was about, except that Lewin wanted to speak with him about a person in his constituency.
According to Golding, it was when Lewin arrived at Vale Royal, approximately 15 minutes after being initially telephoned, that he discovered the details of the matter.
Golding told journalists that he was unable to say if legal action will be taken against Lewin.
"I understand that Minister Nelson has raised that issue and it is something that I will have to discuss with him," Golding said.
But he was under no illusion that even a court victory would remove the stain caused by the allegations.
"The problem with these things is, with the kind of media that you have today, scurrilous, unsubstantiated allegations or innuendoes have a DNA effect. You can never remove it.
"Even if Mr Lewin is called upon, whether through a commission of enquiry or through a lawsuit, even if he is called upon to prove it and he can't, the damage has already been done," he added.
Just over a week ago, Lewin claimed that 15 minutes after he briefed the national security minister about the pending request for Coke, the alleged drug kingpin was tipped off and retreated into his Tivoli Gardens stronghold.
The allegation was immediately dismissed by Nelson, who threatened legal action, while poring over the Official Secrets Act to determine if the former police commissioner had broken confidentiality clauses.
Lewin said Monday that history would vindicate him for his controversial revelation.
arthur.hall@gleanerjm.comhttp://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100708/lead/lead1.html
Lewin is not a 'yes man' — Simpson Miller
Garfield Myers
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller has come out in strong defence of former police commissioner, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin in his current quarrel with the Government, claiming the Bruce Golding administration is seeking to "victimise and embarrass everyone who refuse to be yes men and women".
Simpson Miller told a Central Manchester People's National Party (PNP) constituency conference in Mandeville on Sunday night that as prime minister and minister of defence three years ago, she had worked with Lewin — then head of Jamaica's military — and found him to be an admirable professional.
"I found him to be an honest, forthright person, respectful, but not a yes man. If he does not agree he is not afraid to say so. He will not simply tell you what you want to hear. He will tell you the facts, and his analysis of them. He is a dedicated soldier, a loyal servant of the people and a patriot of Jamaica," Simpson Miller, who is president of the PNP, said.
Lewin, who resigned as police commissioner in November last year, alleged on CVM-TV that the recently extradited alleged drug lord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, was tipped off about the United States' extradition request after he (Lewin) told National Security Minister Dwight Nelson about the request.
Lewin's allegation has been rejected by Nelson, who claimed it reflects the "maliciousness of a bitter and revengeful man".
"I reject and repudiate Mr Lewin's insinuation that either the prime minister or I alerted Christopher Coke to the existence of an extradition request by the US authorities," Nelson said in a statement. The national security minister suggested that legal action was likely to be taken against Lewin whom he claimed had been a "failure" as commissioner of police.
But Simpson Miller said Nelson's "attack" on Lewin reflected an arrogant and disrespectful approach to governance that failed to recognise standards in public service.
"They have a difficulty working with good, competent and efficient people, they only feel good to work with people who will tell them what they want to hear," she charged.
Simpson Miller named a long list of high-profile "dismissals" by the Golding Government, including that of the Public Service Commission, a former deputy solicitor general, and a former Bank of Jamaica governor as evidence of the validity of her allegation.
The resignation of two commissioners of police since the JLP Government took power in late 2007 was further evidence, she said.
"Are these all bad people? These are people who have combined experience of scores, hundreds of years of service to the public service.
"We know them to be efficient people, hardworking people and they (Government) send them home and when... things start to slide they (Government) point fingers at everybody else apart from themselves," the PNP leader said.
Simpson Miller also rejected what she said were suggestions that Lewin was taking political sides. No one who chose to speak with "honesty" could make such an allegation, she said.
Simpson Miller said the recent approach by JLP Senators to a "no-confidence" motion brought by the Opposition against Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dorothy Lightbourne regarding her handling of the extradition affair, was further evidence of the ruling party's "arrogance" and "disrespect for the Jamaican people".
"I was appalled when I watched the debate on the motion against the attorney general... because at least Golding recognised that he did wrong and apologised (to the nation) but none of the speakers (JLP Senators) recognised that anything was wrong, everyone got up to say that everything is okay, 'a nuh nuttin'," she said.
Claiming the entire episode had stained the reputation of Jamaica, Simpson Miller reiterated calls for a commission of enquiry into the Government's entire approach to the US request for the extradition of Coke and related issues.
The June 24 extradition of Coke (eventually completed after he waived his right to be heard in Jamaican jurisdiction) followed a nine-month period in which the Government refused to authrorise the extradition request on the basis that the evidence submitted by the United States was gathered in breach of Jamaican law.
However, faced with mounting pressure at home and abroad and the repercussions of a scandal related to efforts to lobby the US government regarding the extradition process, Golding announced in May that the Government would sign the order.
The announcement led to criminal elements blocking the entrances to Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston, which was Coke's base.
Days later, following attacks on police stations and the declaration of a State of Emergency, the security forces entered Tivoli Gardens and during a fierce confrontation with gunmen more than 70 civilians and a soldier were killed.
After eluding the police for several weeks, Coke was held by the police on June 22 in the company of high-profile pastor Rev Al Miller, who said he had been taking the fugitive to the United States Embassy. Miller has since been charged with harbouring a fugitive and perverting the course of justice.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Lewin-is-not-a--yes-man-----Simpson-Miller_7777507
Bunting knocks Nelson's attack on Lewin
BY GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-Large South Central Bureau
Thursday, July 08, 2010
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Opposition Spokesman on National Security Peter Bunting has said that a reported bid by National Security Minister Dwight Nelson to silence former police commissioner Hardley Lewin using the Official Secrets Act, flies in the face of proposed whistle-blower legislation which the Government now has before Parliament.
"This is the same government that has a piece of legislation (in Parliament) called the Protected Disclosures Act or the Whistle-blower's Act (which provides) a framework for public interest disclosures regarding unlawful or irregular conduct by public or private sector employers," Bunting told a meeting of his Central Manchester Constituency in Mandeville last Sunday.
Bunting noted that the proposed legislation also "provides for the protection of persons making these disclosures".
Bunting said that recent "disclosures" made by Lewin regarding the government's alleged mishandling of the extradition process for accused drug and arms trafficker Christopher "Dudus" Coke were exactly the kind the proposed whistle-blower legislation was designed to facilitate.
"What do we have here? We have the former top cop making disclosures in the public interest and he is certainly speaking of irregular conduct if not unlawful conduct. And I want to ask the JLP administration to explain this inconsistency," said Bunting, who is the Member of Parliament for Central Manchester.
His audience included Opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller, leading politicians from the central region, former Mandeville Mayor Cecil Charlton, party workers, delegates and hard-core supporters.
Bunting charged that the government had been emboldened to bring the legislation to Parliament after an informant provided information leading to the so-called Trafigura scandal which rocked the PNP government in 2006.
But, said Bunting, the JLP was now finding that the "same knife stick sheep stick goat".
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Bunting-knocks-Nelson-s-attack-on-Lewin_7778076
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