THE “ORDERED” release of an American man from police custody after he was accused of verbally abusing and threatening the safety of an immigration officer at the Sangster International Airport has sparked allegations of political interference from angry border protection officers in St James. Multiple Sunday Gleaner sources confirmed that the man, who is a relative of a former politician, arrived in the island on a United Airlines flight from Dallas, Texas, on Friday, June 23, around 10 p.m. He was denied entry when he arrived at the airport in the western end of the island because of an issue with the United States passport that he travelled on. The man is accused of behaving “boisterously”and raining blows on the plexiglass separating him and the immigration officer who had conducted the interview. According to reports, he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, handcuffed and transferred to the Barnett Street police lock-up in the parish, where the incident was recorded in the station’s cell diary. But no sooner than he was placed in a cell, a call was made to have him released, shortly after 11 p.m., several official sources disclosed. On Friday, Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang, who also has portfolio responsibility for immigration matters, admitted to The Sunday Gleaner that he gave instructions for the man to be released“on humanitarian grounds”. Chang said that the man came to Jamaica with his family to attend the funeral of his grandmother. The security minister said that his travel document “had some damage”, but was still functional. He said that the man was detained by immigration to be returned on the next available flight, which was the following day. Chang said that his family called and asked if he could be released on humanitarian grounds because he was scheduled to attend the funeral the next day then leave the island on Sunday. “This is not an unusual request or activity,” Chang told The Sunday Gleaner. The minister said he telephoned the chief executive officer of the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), Andrew Wynter, “and he had the same request”. “He said it was quite feasible and legal for the minister [of national security] to request his release on such grounds because immigration does this from time to time,” Chang said, referring to Wynter. “Most times, it doesn’t even reach the minister,” he added. Chang, who is also the deputy prime minister, said it was only after the man was released that he learnt that he became “very boisterous” when immigration officers told him he would be refused entry into Jamaica. But the national security minister insisted that the man was never charged with any crime. “If he assaulted somebody and was charged, I could not release him. He would have to get a lawyer and go seek bail,” Chang said. However, Sunday Gleaner sources close to the matter insisted that the man was arrested and charged for disorderly conduct and said that a former high-ranking politician had also telephoned a senior official at PICA requesting the man’s release. “So [the PICA official] actually called the police station and say, ‘Let out the man’. That didn’t sit well with the [immigration] officers because what that is saying is that the very said entity that is supposed to be defending a principle, the said entity is perverting the course of justice,” one of several sources who spoke to The Sunday Gleaner on condition of anonymity claimed. “You cannot operate in a way where because it is the relative of a friend or certain people then they are going to get off but the man who don’t know anybody going to have to go to court and face the tribunal. So the immigration officers are very peeved about that and they said they are not going to tolerate it.” ATTORNEYS REPRESENTING Leslie Campbell have said that the former government senator is perplexed by an Integrity Commission (IC) decision that he should face charges for alleged breaches of the IC Act and the Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act. IN A report to Parliament, the anti-corruption body’s director of corruption prosecution, Keisha Prince-Kameka, recommended that Campbell, a former state minister for foreign affairs and foreign trade, should be charged. Campbell, who tendered his resignation as government senator recently and lost his position as state minister, has requested an urgent review of the decision. Kevon Stephenson, director of investigations at the IC, issued an investigation report to Parliament last week detailing concerns that Campbell failed to provide information requested by the commission regarding his statutory declarations. The report was tabled during a sitting of the Senate on Friday. In his probe, Stephenson said the that commission has made 39 requests in writing between 2016 and 2020 for Campbell to provide information to the anti-corruption body, but the former lawmaker only partially complied with the requests. The IC said that Campbell provided a total of five responses over the period. But Campbell’s attorneys insisted that he had provided adequate responses to the agency. “Mr Campbell reported that the Integrity Commission continues to request the surrender value for an insurance policy, Guardian Life Care Plus, which has no surrender value,” the attorneys said. Campbell’s attorneys said their client awaits the Integrity Commission’s director of information and complaints to contact him for dialogue as stated in the IC’s report. THE MONTHLY GLEANER | JULY 6 - AUGUST 5, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 7 CAMPBELL STUNNED [NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED] Leslie Campbell Dr Horace Chang Former lawmaker requests urgent review as IC recommends charges SEVENTEEN OF the 20 Qahal Yahweh members who were detained by the police last Friday morning have been charged with breaches of the Child Care and Protection Act. They were taken into custody during a joint special operation of the security forces at their Paradise Avenue religious compound in Montego Bay, St James. The charges come merely three weeks after the children of many of those now in custody were placed in state care. The religious sect’s leader was also taken into custody, but up to press time, it was not clear whether he was charged. The police confirmed that several exhibits, photographs, and other material of evidential value were removed from the compound by investigators. “This operation is part of our continued efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of all individuals associated with the compound, particularly the children, following our action on June 7, 2023,” said a statement from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Corporate Communications Unit. According to the JCF, it has been working closely with other government agencies and the families involved to ensure a thorough, fair, and considerate handling of the complex matter. Representatives from the Ministry of Health andWellness joined the law enforcement team in Friday’s operation, which was incident-free. The Qahal Yahweh compound, which is located two doors away from the late Kevin Smith’s Pathway International Kingdom Restoration Ministries, made headlines in 2019, when the property was raided by the authorities, who removed the children of one of the leaders. Those children have been reunited with their mother. 17 CHARGED IN LATEST QAHAL YAHWEH RAID GOV’T MINISTER ORDERS COPS TO FREE DETAINED AMERICAN
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUzNTI=