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alerted that his arrest was imminent but it had been public
knowledge long before that his extradition was requested.”
PRIME MINISTER’S BROADCAST TO THE NATION – 17 MAY
3.35.
Accordingly, on the evening of 17 May 2010, Mr. Golding made a
broadcast in which he announced that the Attorney-General intended to sign the
ATP. Both the ATP and the Warrant of Arrest were in fact signed and dated
18 May 2010.
3.36.
In the course of a wide-ranging address, the Prime Minister
confessed that the issues surrounding the request for Coke’s extradition had
“caused much anxiety throughout the society”. He said that –
“This matter of the extradition has consumed too much of
our energies and attention and has led to a virtual paralysis
that must be broken…The nation’s business cannot continue
to be disrupted and distracted by the ordeal of the last
several months.”
3.37.
The Prime Minister’s announcement of the Attorney-General’s
decision took the Heads of the security forces by surprise. He did not alert them
of his intentions prior to his broadcast. CoP Ellington said, “I was advised like
the rest of Jamaica.”
3.38.
CDS Saunders spoke similarly –
“I learnt that the ATP was to be signed through the media in
a broadcast. It took me by surprise... It denied the
operation the element of surprise.”
3.39.
DCP Hinds, on the other hand, said that he was not surprised by
the announcement. “Nothing in politics surprises me” he said.