LACKSTON Robinson, the deputy solicitor general who first raised concerns about the extradition request for accused drug lord Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, yesterday declined to say whether he thought the former Tivoli Gardens strongman was “wrongly” or “correctly” extradited.

Robinson, under crossexamination by attorney Sherry Ann McGregor — one of Prime Minster Bruce Golding’s lawyers at the Commission of Enquiry into the Government’s handling of the extradition request — said that he was of the view that the extradition request had breached Coke’s constitutional rights, in relation to how the wiretap evidence was gathered by the United States.

However, when he was asked later by attorney Leonard Green, representing the People’s National Party, to comment on whether or not Coke’s extradition was done “correctly or wrongly”, Robinson declined to comment either way.

But at the same time, he testified under crossexamination by Oliver Smith (representing Solicitor General Douglas Leys) that after going through the extradition file overnight in August 2009 it was apparent that a breach had been committed and that the evidence was insufficient.

Consequently, Robinson said he developed several questions regarding the request, which he submitted to his office and which were later sent to the US Government.

Robinson said the Interception of Communications Act allows for persons’ conversations to be intercepted with a court order, which also gives authorisation as to who could receive the information. He said that while a judge can make an order as to who may receive the evidence on a particular individual, his interpretation of the act is that the information cannot be shared with persons outside of the country. Even though the authority to start the extradition took nine months, Robinson said, “I would image that it was dealt with as expeditiously as it could.”

Meanwhile, Robinson — who testified that he was a part of a Jamaican delegation that included Leys, Ambassador Evadne Coye and attorney Harold Brady that went to Washington in December 2009 to discuss the stand-off between Jamaica and the United States over the request — said he was not aware that the Jamaica Labour Party had engaged the services of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to deal with the extradition request nor had he discussed the issue with Leys.

Robinson testified that during the visit to Washington he, Leys and Brady met with representatives from the firm during an introductory meeting arranged by Brady. In that meeting, he said, Coke’s extradition request was discussed and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips representatives said that their company should be employed as it had dealt with a number of extradition matters before.

Robinson testified also that he did not have any discussions with Leys regarding Brady’s involvement in the matter, nor was he informed by Leys that he and Brady had been having discussions prior to December 1, 2009 relating to Brady’s recommendation for the Government to engage the services of the US law firm.

Robinson also told the enquiry, being held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, that he had never met Brady before December 15, 2009 when they met at the departure lounge at the Norman Manley International Airport while awaiting a flight to Washington.