LIGHTBOURNE... claimed ignorance about the existence of Mannat, Phelps and Phillips

THE Opposition Peoples National Party (PNP) is calling for the immediate resignation or dismissal of Attorney General and Justice Minister Senator Dorothy Lightbourne over her handling of the extradition dispute between the United States and Jamaica over West Kingston strongman Christopher Dudus Coke.

At a hastily called press conference at the partys headquarters in Kingston this morning, Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller said the ministers credibility and competence were in question.

The Minister of Justice stands at the centre of the US/Jamaica extradition treaty dispute. For Jamaica, that position is the axis around which the dispute revolves, Simpson Miller said.

She said recent statements by Lightbourne claiming ignorance about the very existence of the  US law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, which the Jamaica Labour Party reportedly engaged to lobby the US on treaty issues, was outrageously incredible and definitely not believable in the least".

The government has consistently denied any contractual relationship with the firm since mention was first made of the issue in Parliament by Opposition MP Dr Peter Phillips.

The PNP said the position of Solicitor General Douglas Leys has also been compromised, but said the Public Service Commission which made the appointment, should make a determination about his future.