PAUL Hamilton, the son of convicted Jamaican drug dealer Andrew Hamilton, was yesterday granted $5 million bail when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court on allegations that he helped his father launder $1 billion in drug money from overseas.

The 20-year-old man was arrested and charged last Thursday with three counts of money laundering.

Yesterday, the prosecution told the court that the accused man’s father allegedly sent money amounting to $1 billion to the island and that the junior Hamilton signed money transfers on behalf of himself and others.

The Crown also informed the court that it had evidence of the alleged transfers that were signed by Hamilton and that his signature was verified by forensic evidence.

The drug money was allegedly used to purchase real estate. However, Hamilton’s lawyer Anthony Pierson denied the allegations.

He argued that the police were on a mission to arrest and charge everyone who is connected to the incarcerated drug trafficker and also that at the time his client’s father was under investigation, his son would have been too young to be involved.

“I make bold to say that the charges against Andre Hamilton are borne out of oblique motive,” he said further.

The junior Hamilton was subsequently granted bail by Senior Magistrate Judith Pusey on condition that he surrender his travel documents with a stop order in place. He is to return to court on September 19.

In the meantime, the other people who are charged in the matter will return to court on September 10.

They are 55-year-old attorney-at-law Dawn Satterswaite of Cherry Gardens in Upper St Andrew and three other relatives of the convicted drug trafficker in 53-year-old Paulette Higgins of Norman Gardens in Kingston; Janet Ramsay, 50, of Bridgeport in Portmore, St Catherine; and 40-year-old Ann Marie Cleary of Woodlawn, Manchester. All are on $10-million bail.