Moontown

A less intimidating Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, who the police say was found disguised in a wig. -courtesy of cvm tv

Police Commissioner Owen Ellington addresses a press briefing after the capture of fugitive Christopher Coke yesterday. To his right is Deputy Commissioner Jevene Bent. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

A video grab from CVM TV shows lawmen ushering Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke into a helicopter yesterday afternoon.

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Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

Jamaica’s No. 1 fugitive Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke spent last night in an unidentified maximum-security facility as the long search for him came to an end.

After a bloody battle to capture Coke in his Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston, enclave last month, he was held yesterday without one shot being fired.

Coke was held about 4 p.m. yesterday, bringing to a close a monthlong islandwide manhunt. Sources say he was found with a wig that was used as a disguise.

He was reportedly being taken by the Reverend Al Miller, the prominent cleric who facilitated the surrender of two of Coke’s siblings, to the United States Embassy in Kingston when he was held.

Miller was travelling with Coke on Mandela Highway close to the border of St Andrew and St Catherine when the police stopped the vehicle.

“The police were monitoring a vehicle checkpoint on the Mandela Highway and they were acting on intelligence,” Police Commissioner Owen Ellington told journalists during a press conference at his Old Hope Road, St Andrew, office yesterday afternoon.

Coke was leaving St Catherine on the same day Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced a state of emergency would be established in that parish.

Yesterday, Ellington refused to say if any “armed militiamen” had also been held.

The police commissioner also refused to say if the $5 million bounty offered for information leading to the arrest of Coke would be paid out.

“The arrest of Coke today is the culmination of an extended operation that started on the 24th of May,” Ellington said bluntly.

Last night, US Chargé d’Affaires Isiah Parnell said he had not yet been officially informed of the capture.

“I am pleased with the news and am looking forward to dealing with the extradition proceedings,” he told The Gleaner.

Miller could be in trouble

During the police press briefing, Ellington warned Miller to turn himself in immediately at any police station for questioning.

The top cop hinted that the pastor could be in trouble for trying to circumvent local authorities by transporting Coke to the US Embassy.

“This afternoon, before coming down here, I spoke with all of my senior officers and I asked each individual if they were party to any discussion or agreement for the bypassing of the legal process for Coke to be turned over to US marshals. Each officer responded in the negative,” Ellington said.

However, Ellington could not explain why Miller was not detained when Coke was held.

“The policemen on the ground at the time allowed him to go (but) I’m investigating the reason why that was done.”

Last night, Miller, chairman of the National Transformation Programme, said he would turn himself in today.

Ellington said arrangements are being made to have Coke face the courts as quickly as possible.

Could face court in 48 hours

With reports circulating that Coke has decided not to fight the extradition request, the commissioner told journalists that the fugitive could face the local courts within the next 48 hours.

But Coke’s attorney, Don Foote, was unable to shed light late yesterday on his client’s intentions.

“I will have to get instructions from him. Now that Coke has been held, the committal process has started,” Foote told The Gleaner.

As the police and army combed Jamaica for Coke, they had warned that persons knowing of his whereabouts could be charged with harbouring a fugitive, a serious offence that is administered by the High Court.

The manhunt took the security forces into inner cities, rural communities and upscale neighbourhoods where Coke and his associates were suspected to be hiding.

Dudus, indicted in the US on a range of drug- and gun-trafficking offences, has been on the run since he eluded a massive dragnet in his potent Tivoli Gardens.

gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com

Trinidad and Tobago Police Social and Welfare Association president Emrol Bruce yesterday met with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to discuss the fourth extension of the term of Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert.

Bruce told the Express he met with Persad-Bissessar for two hours at her St Clair office but declined comment on the outcome of the meeting.

’I will have to speak with our association executive before I am able to formulate a position with regard to Mr Philbert’s extension,’ he said by phone yesterday.

On Monday evening the Police Service Commission (PSC) announced it was extending Philbert’s term of office to September 30, 2010.

It was the fourth extension.

He said the association was able to formally present its opinion with regard to the possibility of a foreigner being appointed the next Commissioner of Police.

Last week after it was reported that former Canadian law enforcement official Neal Parker was the Police Service Commission’s ’preferred choice’ for Commissioner, Bruce said that a foreigner would be ’disconnected’ from the rest of the service and the population and that he would receive resistance rather than support from his officers.

With regard to yesterday’s meeting, Bruce said Persad-Bissessar felt that a coming together with ’all stakeholders’ with regard to the issue was the correct way to go.

Bruce added: ’We hope that at the end of the day Mrs Persad-Bissessar and her Cabinet will make the correct decision with regard to the appointment of the new CoP.’ (Trinidad Express)

-Gyasi Gonzales

Curtis Rampersad

CL Financial has lost its top director.

Dr Shafeek Sultan-Khan resigned as chairman of the cash-strapped insurance conglomerate on Monday.

He also resigned from all CL Financial subsidiaries.

’Dr Sultan-Khan has cited personal reasons for his decision and his resignation is with immediate effect,’ a statement from the company’s managing director and group chief executive officer Marlon Holder indicated yesterday.

During Sultan-Khan’s tenure, CL Financial saved more than US$100 million in costs, the statement said.

Major accomplishments included the restructuring of CL subsidiaries Home Construction Ltd and Angostura Ltd, ’to make them self sustaining’.

The CL statement added that Sultan-Khan was also involved in the formation of a five-year strategic plan which was approved unanimously by the board of directors.

’The plan as it is being executed will maintain the CL Financial Group of companies as the number one conglomerate in the region,’ Holder’s statement said.

Sultan-Khan was installed as chairman of CL Financial following the conglomerate’s collapse and subsequent approach to government for a financial rescue in January 2009.

The Central Bank provided $5 billion for the conglomerate to restructure several companies including CLICO, the country’s largest insurer.

Sultan-Khan also held the position of chairman of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA).

Several directors and executives have resigned at CLICO and CL Financial since 2009.

They include former Central Bank governor Dr Euric Bobb, former Citi banker Steve Bideshi, Claude Musaib-Ali and original CL directors Lawrence Duprey and Michael Carballo.(Trinidad Express)

Joel Julien joel.julien@trinidadexpress.com

JUSTICE MINISTER Herbert Volney is scheduled to undergo heart surgery today, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said last night.

The Caribbean Heart Care Medcorp Ltd team led by Prof Theodorri of Italy is expected to perform bypass surgery on Volney around 8 a.m. today.

The surgery is expected to last about two hours.

Volney was 57 years old on June 8.

After experiencing “discomfort” on Monday night Volney admitted himself to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC), Mt Hope yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said.

LENDING SUPPORT: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, left, and Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex last night.

Volney visited the hospital around 8.30 a.m. yesterday, the Express learnt.

He underwent several diagnostic tests at the hospital’s Cardiac Catherisation Lab yesterday.

He was at risk of suffering a heart attack, test results showed.

Tests determined that Volney’s “arteries are blocked” and bypass surgery would be the best option to solve the problem, Persad-Bissessar said.

Volney had blockages in his arteries two years ago, she said.

Angioplasty, the technique of mechanically widening a narrowed or obstructed blood vessel, will not adequately deal with the blockage, Persad-Bissessar said.

The surgery was ordered for Volney today, Dr Clifford Thomas, the cardiologist who performed the diagnostic tests on Volney, said.

His two-hour procedure is the first scheduled for today for the Caribbean Heart Care team.

Volney is expected to be out of office for approximately two months following his surgery, Persad-Bissessar said.

Legal Affairs Minister Prakash Ramadhar will hold on during Volney’s absence from office.

Volney’s Cabinet colleagues, Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis, Ramadhar and Persad-Bissessar visited him yesterday.

After visiting Volney for about 15 minutes last night, Persad-Bissessar told reporters at the hospital that he was in “very fine spirits”.

“I think he will be fine and we are hoping for the best,” she said.

Baptiste-Cornelis said Volney’s decision to use local health care was testimony that the “health care provided can work for all of us”.

Also present yesterday to lend Volney support were his wife Tricia, sons Christopher and Justin, friend and former UNC minister Carlos John and other family members. (Trinidad Express)

The Reverend Al Miller, who is wanted by the police for questioning, has told The Gleaner that,he would not be turning in himself until tomorrow.

Miller who is the chairman of the National Transformation Programme is being sought by the police in relation to the capture of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

Coke was captured at a police checkpoint today at Ferry on the border of St. Catherine and St. Andrew, was accompanied by Miller.

Miller has been instrumental in recent weeks in the surrender of members of Coke’s family who were wanted by the police.

At a press conference today the Commissioner’s office at Old Hope Road, the Police Commissioner Owen Ellington hinted that Miller could be in trouble with the law even though the pastor said he was only taking Coke to US authorities.

“This afternoon, before coming down here, I spoke with all of my senior officers and I asked each individual if they were party to any discussion or agreement for the bypassing of the legal process for Coke to be turned over to US Marshals. Each officer responded in the negative,” Ellington said.

However, Ellington could not explain why Miller was not held at the same time as Coke.

“The policemen on the ground at the time allowed him to go (but) I’m investigating the reason why that was done.” (Jamaica Gleaner)

Residents of Tivoli Gardens expressed both surprise and relief upon hearing that their one time benefactor Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke was captured by the police in the vicinity of Ferry on the Mandela Highway, on the border of St. Andrew and St.Catherine.

“Relief fi know say him safe and dem no kill him,” explained one resident who did not want her name published.

The Gleaner tried to get a comment from Coke’s mother, Pauline “Patsy” Halliburton, but were turned away by residents who said relatives had left instructions that the media be barred from her apartment.

However, under the watchful eyes of the security forces, a small group of women milling around in the community spoke openly about the man many of them still revere as a hero.
“Me glad dem take him in and me hope dem treat him very safe and dont hurt him. Give him his constitutional right,” said Marion Powell.

“Me hope the US (United States) come and get him soon ,” she added.

The businessman has been on the run since the Jamaican government signed an extradition request on May 18.

The Gleaner understands that he was in the company of the Reverend Al Miller. Miller said he was carrying Coke in to the US Embassy in Liguanea when he was stopped by the police on the Mandela Highway. (Jamaica Gleaner)

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THE ZR vehicle suffered major damage to the front in a collision with an NHC sewage truck yesterday. (Picture by Rawle Culbard)

A ZR DRIVER had to be freed from his vehicle and taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) after a collision with a ten-wheeler sewage truck in Haynesville, St James, yesterday afternoon.
Andy Lowe, 31, of Dover Crescent, Cave Hill, St Michael, was trapped in his vehicle and had to be rescued by the Barbados Fire Service.
The collision happened at the intersection in front of the Melbourne Cricket Ground just after 1 p.m.
Lowe had injuries to his chest, neck and legs, while two of the six passengers, Waveney Dixon, of Checker Hall, St Lucy, and Janette Louis, of Simmons Land, Rendezvous, Christ Church, complained of pains.
Louis, 42, had bruises to her legs, hand, and some bleeding from the mouth, while Dixon pointed to a gash
on her shin.
The truck, belonging to the National Housing Corporation, was driven by Mitchell Hinds, of 5A Field Road, Wildey, St Michael. He and colleagues Ronald Price and Anthony Flatts escaped without injury. (MK) (Nation News)

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FORMER PRINCIPAL of Lester Vaughan, Alvin Cater, was given a warm farewell by students and staff at a retirement function.(Picture by Cherie Pitt)

“POVERTY IS not a stumbling block to success!”
This was the heartfelt message which former principal of the Lester Vaughan School, Alvin Carter, left with the students as they bid him farewell at a retirement function at the school yesterday.
Students sang, danced and rendered poetry, and many glowing speeches were made about him and his lengthy contribution to the educational system. But at the end of it all, a humbled Carter told the audience that the road to his success was not an easy one.
“I see myself as a very simple, humble country boy, and it has not always been this good . . . The road here was a very long and difficult one.”
Carter went on to tell the students of his life growing up among seven siblings. He said they were all raised by his mother.
“When I went to primary school I was fortunate to wear shoes for two days in my entire primary school life . . . What stands out in my mind was when water came to our house for the first time and when electricity came to our house for the first time and when I wore my first long pants. I hope that as I share this with you that you would be encouraged to do some reflection and introspection.”
He added: “I came from a very humble and poor background, but I was able to make it this far and contribute 37 years to the teaching service. One lesson to take with you is that poverty is not a stumbling block, it is not an excuse for not achieving.”
Carter started his teaching career at St Leonard’s Boys’. He then went on to Princess Margaret School, Deighton Griffith and Louis Lynch before taking up the position at Lester Vaughan in 2007. (MB) (Nation News)

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This is all farmer Louis Archer managed to salvage after thieves raided his farm last week.(Pictures by Maria Bradshaw)

By: by Maria Bradshaw

YET ANOTHER farmer at Gibbons Boggs, Christ Church, has lost thousands of dollars in crops and supplies to thieves.
Louis Archer’s three-acre farm was hit every day between last week Sunday and Thursday.
But he said last Thursday was the most devastating, since the thieves took a large portion of his crop which were ready for picking and left a trail of destruction behind.
They picked most of the sweet peppers, beans and cucumbers, stole more than $1 500 in chemicals, took all the bags and what they could not take they emptied the contents of the bottles.
“They coming in at me every other night,” said a visibly upset Archer. “I ask G4S to give me some security. They came and look at the place and drove off. I ask Star Security. They came and said they couldn’t help me if I didn’t have electricity. I ask the police to just come and check around the place – they can’t do that.
“I ask the police one question – if I have the right to protect my property and up to this day they have not answered me.”
Archer said he usually sprayed the vegetables with a chemical which is poisonous if ingested under 24 hours.
“Usually, if the thieves steal the crops when I spray, I would put out a message warning people, but I done with that.”
Archer was also angry with what he called the lack of response from the police.
“I called Oistins Police Station last week, and they told me they were coming. I waited for four hours and then I saw a jeep drive up. I started to walk towards the jeep and the officers look at me and did not even ask my name. They just drove off and then I get a call that they want me to come to that station. I am not going there to waste four hours just to give them a statement.  They don’t care!”
The 60-year-old said he was not the only one in Gibbons suffering from praedial larceny.
“Regardless of what happens, my staff have to get paid. But nobody don’t pay me, so how long do I stand these losses?
One of his female workers, who did not want to be named, said she too, was tired of the constant stealing of the crops.
“Mr Archer is a very good man. He pays us every day – even if the crops are stolen he pays us and he is the only farmer that does that. This is unfair that after we work so hard the people come and thief all the crops before we can reap them.”
Yesterday, they salvaged two bags of cucumbers and a bag of sweet peppers.
Last week, another farmer Elmore Duncan said thieves stole six of his pigs. (Nation News)

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By: by WADE GIBBONS

CLICO International Life Insurance (CIL) has been issuing letters of apology to policyholders for the inability to honour its financial obligations.
The correspondence blamed the company’s liquidity problems on the near collapse of its Trinidad and Tobago-based parent company, CL Financial, as well as policyholders withdrawing their investments.
The company informed policyholders that it was working with the assistance of a consulting actuary and accounting firm Ernst & Young to develop a proposal on the options available to settle its obligations.
Ernst & Young is also preparing a report to illustrate how Government can provide temporary liquidity support.
The company’s liquidity headache is exacerbated by a massive multi-million-dollar deficit in its statutory fund, as well as an imminent $300 million demand on the Executive Flexible Premium Annuities.
CIL, a subsidiary of CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited (CHBL), said it expected to have the final Ernst & Young report and a response from Government on the extent of its involvement “within the next few weeks”.
“At this time, we will be in a position to definitively outline the course of action to policyholders on how our obligations to them can be settled,” the letter said.
An Oversight Committee was established through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Government and CLICO early last year to, among other things, attract a buyer for CIL. But due to the company’s liquidity problems those efforts have failed thus far.
Last March, committee chairman William Layne said that if they failed to find a buyer for CIL by 2012, CLICO assets would have to be sold. That committee officially ended its assignment on June 12.
Recently, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley called for an urgent Government response in the face of the end of the committee’s tenure.
She queried what steps Government would take to ensure that no further money was extracted from the company by any CLICO executive in the absence of the Oversight Committee.
CHBL’s executive chairman Leroy Parris has been the subject of recent public calls to return all monies paid to him by CIL and CLICO Mortgage & Financial Corporation, in the face of other policyholders and investors not being able to obtain theirs.
These demands have echoed those directed at CL Financial where a former corporate secretary, Gita Sakal, was made to return US$5 million paid to her by CLICO Energy Co Ltd. (Nation News)