Jamaican investigators have taken possession of a little over US$300,000 or approximately J$35 million belonging to drug kingpin Christopher 'Dudus' Coke and are on the hunt for more.
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| Christopher "Dudus" Coke |
The Financial Investigations Division (FID) revealed yesterday that the cash, which was being held in accounts Coke had at two local financial institutions, was seized following an order made in the Supreme Court last month.
According to principal director of the FID, Albert Stevens, one of the accounts contained US$282,940.50, or approxi-mately J$32.5 million. The other had US$26,369.70, or some J$3 million, and J$4,698.41.
Despite an order by US District Judge Robert Patterson that Coke pays US$1.5 million, or approximately J$130 million, to the US Asset Forfeiture Unit, Stephens said the cash would be turned over to the Jamaican Government. The seizure of the cash under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) comes nearly four years after the former Shower Posse leader pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the United States.
Stephens disclosed that Coke, who is serving a 23-year prison sentence in the US, did not mount a legal challenge to the court action, even though he was served with documents in his jail cell signalling that Jamaican authorities were getting ready to go after his cash. The former Tivoli Gardens strongman pleaded guilty in September 2011 to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering. "I am pleading guilty because I am," Coke said then.
The multimillion-dollar seizure marks the culmination of a civil-recovery investigation launched by the FID in 2010, after Coke was captured and extradited to the US. It also provides some measure of success for local investigators, who have been trying, without success, to determine the extent of Coke's wealth. more
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