New information has e

Bruce Golding

Manatt said it was paid $15,000 in addition to the $49,892.62 it received from the Jamaican government for legal services. Manatt made the disclosure in a supplemental statement on June 30, filed under Section II of the Foreign Agent Registration Act of 1939 for the six month period ending May 31, 2010.

Earlier this year, there was a chorus of calls for Golding’s resignation when after weeks of denial, he admitted to the Jamaican parliament in May that he had sanctioned the ruling Jamaica Labor Party (JLP), not the Jamaican Government, to contract the services of the U.S. law firm. The firm was hired to deal with matters related to the extradition treaty between Jamaica and the U.S. during the time that Golding pondered the extradition of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke. He was eventually apprehended and extradited to the U.S. last month.

According to the document, the law firm responded yes to the question: “Has your connections with any foreign principal ended this last six month reporting period?” Manatt stated it ended its relationship with the “Government of Jamaica through Harold C.W. Brady of Brady and Co. on February 8, 2010.”

Further in the document, Manatt also answered yes to the question whether during the six month period it engaged in any activities for, or rendered any services to any foreign principal. The filing stated: “Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP represented the Government of Jamaica in the U.S. regarding existing political and economic matters, including existing treaty agreement between Jamaica and the US.”

Manatt also stated that during the six month period, it received $15,000 on March 19, 2010 from the foreign principal, Harold C.W. Brady of Brach (sic) and Co, (GJ) “For services rendered re billing agreement”.

Nowhere in the 24-page document did Manatt refer to having provided service or received payment from a foreign principal named ‘Jamaica Labor Party.’

According to the document, the services rendered on behalf of the Government of Jamaica included discussions with Molly Warlow, director of the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs, about extradition issues. It also stated that Manatt attorneys met Warlow on December 17, 2009, to discuss "extradition treaty process requirements."

Earlier this year, Manatt disclosed that it had received a payment of $49,892.2 from Brady on deposit for a contract that was estimated at some $400,000 over a one-year period.

The filing document, contrary to public opinion in Jamaica, did not refer to Manatt representing the Jamaican government on behalf of Coke.

Prior to Golding’s admission that he had sanctioned the JLP to contact Manatt, the JLP’s general secretary, Karl Samuda, also told Jamaicans that it was the JLP, not the Jamaican government, that had been in contact with the law firm.

However, in several statements from Manatt since the Opposition People National Party (PNP) MP Dr. Peter Phillips, questioned Golding in parliament about an alleged contract between the government and the law firm, it has maintained that its contract was with the Jamaican government.

Samuda said he was unaware of Manatt’s FARA filing, and the minister of information, Daryl Vaz, said he would investigate the matter on his return to his office from a constituency meeting in Portland.

Meanwhile, Dr. Phillips has reiterated his call for a commission of enquiry into the matter. In a statement Phillips said, “It has been clear that the government has not been telling the country all the facts.”