JAMAICA: DIP NOTE RECEIVED ON SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 000704 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR (JMACK-WILSON) (BALVARADO) (VDEPIRRO) (WSMITH) L/LEI (CHOLLAND) (AKLUESNER) INR/IAA (GBOHIGAN) JUSTICE FOR OIA (PPETTY) TREASURY FOR ERIN NEPHEW INR/RES (RWARNER) PASS TO CENTRAL AMERICAN CARIBBEAN BASIN COLLECTIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CJAN CVIS PREL PGOV PINR ASEC SNAR SOCI KCOR KCRM JM XL SUBJECT: JAMAICA: DIP NOTE RECEIVED ON SEPTEMBER 18, 2009 REF: REF: A. STATE 85807 ¶1. (SBU) In a meeting with Foreign Minister (FM) Kenneth Baugh on September 18, CDA received the following diplomatic note, dated September 18, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT): (Begin text of MFAFT DIP NOTE) "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica presents its compliments to the Embassy of the United States of America and, further to the latter's Note No. 296 dated 25th August 2009 concerning the request for extradition of Christopher Michael COKE, has the honour to transmit hereunder the request of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Jamaica for additional information, in accordance with Article IX of the treaty, to enable the proper consideration of the request as required by the provisions of the treaty and domestic legal requirements. The additional information requested is the following: a) The names of the co-operating witnesses; b) Whether these witnesses are being charged jointly with the accused Christopher Coke; c) Whether the evidence which is contained in the statements of the cooperating witnesses was presented to the Grand Jury which returned the indictment; d) If the answer to (c) is no, please advise the circumstances under which the cooperating witnesses decided to give evidence for the prosecution; e) If the answer to (c) is no, then the Minister of Justice and Attorney General is requesting a copy of the evidence which was presented before the Grand Jury which formed the basis for the indictment; f) Whether any scientific analysis of the substance alleged to be marijuana was done and placed before the Grand Jury, and if so the complete results of the analysis; g) Whether there was any evidence of Mr. Coke having traveled to or entered the United States and the dates of such travel; and h) A better quality copy of the photograph, as the one supplied is of extremely poor quality. In addition to the above, it is the understanding of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General that Mr. Coke was also designated a "Drug King Pin" by the Executive Authority of the United States. If this is correct, official confirmation is hereby requested of this designation and the statement of the circumstances justifying the said designation, as well as a certified copy of the statute or other law which authorized the designation. The Minister of Justice and Attorney General is also of the view that there has been significant delay in seeking Mr. Coke's extradition and this may be substantially prejudicial to him. In the circumstances, an explanation for the delay is requested. Further, the Treaty mandates that a request for extradition should be made through normal diplomatic channels. The Minister of Justice and Attorney General has indicated that there is clear evidence that the details of the request were passed to unauthorized persons prior to it being received by the Ministry of Justice through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. The Minister of Justice and Attorney General considers this a serious breach. The perspective of the Requesting State as to how this could have occurred is hereby requested. The Minister of Justice and Attorney General looks forward to receiving the above mentioned information to enable the relevant deliberations to be expedited so as to fully comply with Jamaica's obligations under the treaty and Jamaican law. KINGSTON 00000704 002 OF 002 A copy of the letter of 17th September 2009 from the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade is attached for information and reference. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica thanks the Embassy of the United States of America for its attention to the above and avails itself of this opportunity to renew the assurances of its highest consideration." (End Text) ¶2. (U) CDA's discussion with FM will be reported via Septel. Parnell Parnell