U.S. law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips is insisting, contrary to Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s recent statement in Parliament, that it was the Government of Jamaica that hired and paid them to lobby on their behalf in treaty matters and not the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP).

Golding on Monday told the Jamaican people that he sanctioned members of the JLP to make contact with the U.S. law firm and that the government had no involvement with the firm.

According to an article in AmLaw Daily, Manatt, which has declined to comment on contract details, “steadfastly state that its client was indeed the government.”

The article said, “Manatt general counsel Monte Lemann II said in a statement to The Am Law Daily on Tuesday that the firm ‘did not represent Mr. Coke nor were we retained to deal with the Coke matter.’”

It continued: “In our contract signed by Mr. Brady, he acknowledges that he was authorized to contract with Manatt on behalf of the Jamaican government,” Lemann said. "We facilitated meetings between representatives of the U.S. and Jamaican governments in their official capacities; and we had formal communications with Jamaican government representatives related to our representation," he continued.

However, the firm said though it was not retained to handle the extradition of Dudus, it was “hired by the Jamaican government to consult on treaty matters.”

But Jamaicans are calling for transparency and full disclosure on the Manatt fiasco. According to Peter Townsend, chairman of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), Manatt’s persistent claim suggests that the prime minister may know much more than he is saying.

Meanwhile, mum is the word for JLP General Secretary Karl Samuda who told the local media that he is no longer in a position to comment on the Manatt issue.