JAMAICA: COKE EXTRADITION CASE; IMF AGREEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINGSTON 000009 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR (V.DEPIRRO, W.SMITH, J.MACK-WILSON) L/LEI FOR C.HOLLAND, A.KLUESNER JUSTICE FOR OIA (P.PETTY, P.MCKENNA) TREASURY FOR ERIN NEPHEW, RACHEL JARPE E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/10 TAGS: CJAN SNAR PREL SOCI EAID ASEC KCRM KCOR IMF IBRD JM XL SUBJECT: JAMAICA: COKE EXTRADITION CASE; IMF AGREEMENT REF: KINGSTON 174 (042227Z FEB 10)(NOTAL) KINGSTON 114 (291917Z JAN 10)(NOTAL) 09 KINGSTON 749 (031232Z DEC 09)(NOTAL) 09 STATE 122699 (302220Z NOV 09)(NOTAL) 09 KINGSTON 962 (171909Z NOV 09)(NOTAL) 09 KINGSTON 924 (041544Z NOV 09)(NOTAL) 09 STATE 108074 (191805Z OCT 09)(NOTAL) 09 STATE 8580Z (181409Z AUG 09)(NOTAL) CLASSIFIED BY: Lloyd W. Moss, Pol-Econ Counselor, State, Kingston; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (SBU) On February 8, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT) Permanent Secretary (PS) Amb. Evadne Coye advised Charge that Prime Minister (PM) Bruce Golding wanted to meet with him the following day in the PM's Office. The PS advised that she was not aware of the subject of the meeting. ¶2. (C) PM Golding began the conversation by expressing his understanding that the U.S. Treasury reps had taken a "very hard line" in their review of the Government of Jamaica (GOJ)'s recent IMF loan application by insisting on strict adherence to all of the terms of the loan. He asked if this "hard line" stance was related to the GOJ's inaction on the Coke extradition matter (reftels). The Charge' responded that, while resolution of Coke extradition matter was of great importance to the USG and we hoped for an affirmative response soon, the request had no impact on the U.S. loan vote, and pointed out that it is reasonable to expect that all nations abide by terms of their IMF loan agreements. The PM concluded by reiterating his government's intention to comply fully with the terms of the loan. ¶3. (SBU) The PM stated that he recently had discussed the Coke extradition matter with Solicitor General (SG) Douglas Leys and understood that the USG had not followed through on commitments made during the December meetings between USG and GOJ officials in Washington to provide additional information. He noted that the Attorney General (AG) Dorothy Lightbourne is prepared to rule on the extradition request, but wanted to give the USG every opportunity to provide information on its authority to use the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and wiretap information during U.S. grand jury proceedings. ((Comment: During Charge's meeting with SG Leys and AG Lightbourne last week (reftel A),SG Leys stated that the AG had every right to deny the request due to her conclusion that the U.S. had no authority to use the wiretap information and JCF testimony without prior consent from the GOJ, but wanted to give the USG every opportunity to provide the justification requested. End Comment.)) Action Request ¶4. (C) Post requests that Department move forward with diplomatic note addressing the GOJ's concerns regarding use of wiretap information using talking points outlined in McDonough/Parnell e-mail of February 3. Charge has raised the matter of disclosure of the 2004 MOU between UK/GOJ/DEA with UK High Commissioner, and expects to get UK's views of MOU disclosure on February 10. Parnell