PNP wants private hearing in Trafigura case
LAWYERS representing Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller and other People’s National Party (PNP) officials who Dutch investigators are seeking to question in the Supreme Court regarding the Trafigura Beheer bribery scandal yesterday made a submission for their clients to give evidence in a private setting.
Arguments for the questioning to be made in private were made before Justice Lennox Campbell on a day when the questioning was scheduled to start.
The public questioning was ordered by the High Court last year November after the PNP officials refused to respond to questions posed by the Dutch investigators who were probing Trafigura’s political donations to governments of countries in which it does business.
The Trafigura scandal rocked the PNP in 2006 after it emerged that the then governing party accepted a $31-million gift from the Dutch firm Trafigura Beheer which, at the time, had an oil-lifting agreement with Jamaica. The party has since said the money was returned.
Yesterday, Queen’s Counsel KD Knight, who is representing Simpson Miller and PNP Chairman Robert Pickersgill, argued that the rights of his clients have already been breached and are likely to be breached should the matter continue in open court. The same, he added, applies to former minister of industry, energy, technology and trade Phillip Paulwell, former information minister Colin Campbell and businessman Norton Hinds.
Knight submitted that it was wrong for the potential witnesses to be questioned openly in court as they have not been charged nor have they given statements on which they can be questioned or cross-examined.
Additionally, Knight argued that the PNP members are being asked to assist the Dutch authorities in their investigation under the Mutual Assistance (Criminal Matters) Act and that the questioning must be done in accordance with Jamaican law or practice.
Knight also informed the court that he had filed a constitutional motion in court and made a second application for the staying of the questioning pending the outcome of the constitutional motion which is scheduled for hearing within the next four or five weeks in the Judicial Review Court. The motion is challenging the order under the Mutual Assistance (Criminal Matters) for the PNP officials to be questioned by the Dutch investigators.
Knight’s submission was supported by Queen’s Counsel John Junor, who is representing Hinds, and Queen’s Counsel Patrick Atkinson, who along with Debra Martin is representing Paulwell.
Senior deputy director of public prosecution, Caroline Hay, in response said that the matter must proceed in open court based on Jamaican law. She also questioned why the attorney had not raised the matter in case management conference and why they had not challenged the decision before.
In addition, she said that the Dutch officials had made several attempts to meet with the officials in private but the attempts were unsuccessful, resulting in the matter being brought before the court.
The matter continues today.
Simpson Miller was the only PNP official in the matter who was not present in court yesterday.