Lawyers representing alleged drug kingpin Christopher 'Dudus' Coke have urged a United States (US) court to declare illegal the two controversial memoranda of understanding (MOUs) signed by Jamaica's former National Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips.
As Coke's lawyers prepare for a court battle tomorrow about admitting the wiretap information, which US prosecutors want to use to nail him on drug and firearm charges, they have submitted documents challenging the legality of the MOUs.
In papers filed last Friday in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Coke's lawyers charge that the MOUs are illegal because they were signed by the wrong American official.
"What no Jamaican official knew, but what the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) knew, was that these two agreements were invalid under the laws of the United States," argued Coke's lawyer Stephen H. Rosen in the document filed on Friday.
"The authority to sign the two memoranda of understanding in question vested exclusively with the Department of State," Rosen charged.
He pointed to several previous cases where US judges have ruled that no other body outside of the Department of State could enter an agreement such as the Jamaican MOUs which allow local law-enforcement officials to share information with the DEA.
According to Rosen: "There is absolutely no congressional authority for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to enter into any agreement with a foreign country involving illegal narcotics activity abroad."
US prosecutors have already asked the court to reject the motion to exclude the wiretap information from use at Coke's trial scheduled to start in September but Rosen argued that they were missing the point.
"The illegality towards which this motion is directed is conduct by United States Drug Enforcement Administration, not conduct of officials of the Jamaican Government," Rosen said.
US 'stole wiretap'
He noted that Coke's motion to exclude the wiretap information stated clearly that: "In essence, the Government of the United States knowingly and surreptitiously stole the Coke wiretap interceptions from Jamaica. The basis of exclusion is the action of the United States government in obtaining this wiretap evidence from Jamaica."
If the court rules that the wiretap information cannot be used in the trial, the case against him could crumble.
American prosecutors are depending on what they claim are taped conversations involving the former west Kingston strongman and co-conspirators where he allegedly discusses drug and gun deals.
Coke is in custody in an American prison awaiting the start of his trial.
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