US embassy cable - 04NASSAU1148

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NASSAU 001148 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/10/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PARM, PINR, BF, Bahamian Politics 
SUBJECT: ATTORNEY GENERAL DEFERS TO THE ALL-POWERFUL FRED 
MITCHELL 
 
 
Classified By: CHARGE ROBERT M. WITAJEWSKI FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
SUMMARY 
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1.  (C) Charge, Political Officer, and DEA Country Attache 
held a private lunch with Bahamian Attorney General and 
Minister of Education, Alfred Sears, on June 8, 2004 to 
discuss the long list of issues he faces in his two massive 
portfolios.  Overwhelmed and underpaid, Sears still claimed 
that he has faith in the Bahamian judicial process, and that 
the extraditions of high-profile drug traffickers such as 
Samuel "Ninety" Knowles will in a sense "sort themselves 
out."  He indicated that he hopes to be able to drop the 
Attorney General portfolio soon and return to a lucrative 
private practice while retaining his Education ministry job. 
On a number of issues, ranging from extradition to Article 
98, the Attorney General deferred all comments to Foreign 
Minister Fred Mitchell as he insisted he had no role in the 
decision-making process on these matters. 
End Summary 
 
BY DAY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, BY NIGHT THE MINISTER OF 
EDUCATION 
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2.  (C) Minister Sears admitted up-front that he has 
difficulty managing his two high-profile, labor-intensive 
portfolios.  Claiming that he typically arrives at the Office 
of the Attorney General between 7:00 and 7:30 in the morning, 
he said that he spends the entire morning at that ministry, 
leaving just after lunch for the Ministry of Education where 
he spends afternoons and evenings.  Most nights, he asserted, 
his driver does not drop him off at home until 10:30 or 11:00 
o'clock. 
 
3.  (C) Sears acknowledged that he has approached Prime 
Minister Christie requesting to be relieved of one of his 
portfolios.  Citing the importance he places on the children 
and their future in the Bahamas, Minister Sears said he would 
be happier giving up his responsibility as Attorney General. 
In addition to reducing by half his workload, such a move 
would also allow him to return to his lucrative private legal 
practice as well.  Sears readily acknowledged that public 
service was an expensive proposition for him while repeatedly 
professes how much of an honor it was to be in public 
service.  He made clear, however, that there was a definite 
time limit to his public career and that while he would 
remain loyal and work himself hard during this government, he 
would remain in politics "no longer than the season". 
 
 
AG'S OFFICE TO RECEIVE NO BUDGET INCREASE 
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4.  (C) Despite the repeated sick-outs in the Attorney 
General's Office by an over-worked and underpaid staff that 
have been front-page news, Sears told Charge that his budget 
was staff had not been increased in the new budget presented 
to parliament last week for the coming fiscal year.  He 
estimated that 60% of the entire government budget would go 
towards salaries, 20% would go towards covering the deficit, 
and what little is remaining would go towards new programs to 
be split between all of the ministries. 
 
5.  (C) Minister Sears claimed, however, that even without a 
budget increase, he had been able to rearrange his finances 
so that he could hire five new attorneys for the Attorney 
General's office.  These new hires were the result of an 
earlier employee sick-out and public complaints from them 
about the increased work load due to MLAT requests from other 
countries. 
 
 
FRANCE AND SPAIN PICKING ON THE BAHAMAS? 
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6.  (C)   Asked about recent reports that both France and 
Spain had raised complaints about Bahamian non-responsiveness 
to their FATF/MLAT requests that were formally addressed to 
him, Sears contended that these complaints were unfairly 
directed at him and his ministry, when in reality they had 
their origins in extraneous bilateral issues. France, he 
claimed, is irritated over extradition issues, whereas Spain 
still harbors lingering resentment and issues following the 
sinking off the coast of Spain of the Bahamian-flagged oil 
tanker "Prestige" that resulted in massive pollution off the 
Spanish coastline. 
 
BAIL REFORM, EXTRADITION, AND ARTICLE 98 
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7. (C)  Regarding the lengthy and slow extradition process of 
suspected drug traffickers for trial in the United States, 
Sears recalled his experience working for New York City 
judges and public outcries for the expedited carrying out of 
capital punishment sentences saying that he preferred to let 
the system work its course at its usual pace.  He was not 
prepared to move to quash appeals by defendants' attorneys on 
grounds of "abuse of process," he indicated.  Asked about 
making a technical change in Bahamian habeas corpus law 
recommended by the Privy Council that almost led to the 
release of notorious suspected major narcotics trafficker 
Samuel "90" Knowles release, Sears said that only now, 
several months after the Privy Council's decision and 
recommendation were attorneys in his office considering a 
technical amendment to the law.  On modernization of the 
country's bail laws, Sears insisted, as well, that his staff 
had prepared technical corrections to a law passed by 
parliament that needed only his signature to implement. 
 
8. (C)  On the issue of modernizing the country's procedures 
for the administrative forfeiture of the seized assets of 
arrested drug traffickers, Sears said that The Bahamas would 
defer making changes to its laws until a Commonwealth 
committee (of which The Bahamas was a member) issued its 
recommendations and a "model statute."  Sears speculated that 
this could happen within a couple of years. 
 
9. (C)  Queried about his position regarding extradition 
issues and the public debate likely to break out following 
the unsealing of indictments and the arrest of several dozen 
suspected Bahamian drug traffickers later this month, Sears 
demurred.  He rejected approving their expeditious 
extradition to the U.S. because either it would be 
cost-effective for The Bahamas not to conduct the trials, 
would be more expeditious to conduct the trials in the U.S., 
or that this would spare The Bahamas the expense of multiple, 
lengthy trials.  Sears responded by making a somewhat obtuse 
and esoteric conflict of law argument as a reason why he had 
opposed a deal with U.S. prosecutions apportioning a majority 
of the prosecutions to the U.S. 
 
10.  (C) Attorney General Sears professed to find no legal 
objection to the signing of an Article 98 agreement with the 
United States, but strongly emphasized that this issue falls 
under the purview of Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell.  He 
seemed to understand however that if the Bahamas is planning 
to sign Article 98 at any point, it should do it as soon as 
possible in order to benefit from U.S. military-sponsored 
programs. 
 
 
COMMENT 
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11.  (C) Attorney General Sears seems dedicated to public 
service, but admitted quite freely that he prefers - and is 
better suited - for the private sector.  Using the slow and 
monotonous tone of the law professor that he was, Sears spoke 
at length -- and with great deference to the complex facets 
of every side of every issue that he was asked about -- 
successfully avoiding a definitive response to most of them. 
Once a professor at Hunter College in New York City and a 
current member of the NY Bar Association, Sears contends that 
the U.S. judicial system is preferable to that of the Bahamas 
while nonetheless maintaining a strong faith in Bahamian law 
and tradition.  Taking a "it might be slow, but it will work" 
attitude regarding extradition, Sears didn't seem to think 
that the internal politics and "90's" carefully cultivated 
public image as a Robin Hood figure would have an impact on 
the eventual outcome of the process. 
WITAJEWSKI