After losing his latest appeal at the Privy Council in London, the fate of Samuel “Ninety” Knowles now rests with Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, Francis Cumberbatch, prosecutor in the Attorney General’s Office, said yesterday.
Mr Cumberbatch said that all of the legal avenues explored so far by Knowles, have been exhausted.
“There is nothing more outstanding. This is it,” he said. The public prosecutor said that following the Privy Council’s ruling earlier this week the committal order for Knowles to be extradited to the US to face drug charges must stand. The next step in that process must now be taken by Minister Mitchell.
“All that is left to do now, is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs to issue a document, a warrant of surrender,” he said.
Mr Cumberbatch said he could not estimate how soon such a warrant would be issued as Minister Mitchell and Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson would have to first confer on the matter.
However, he said that he would not be surprised if Knowles and his lawyers were to launch further applications in a last ditch attempt to avoid the extradition to the United States.
“I don’t want to speculate on the fashion and form of actions that his lawyers may pursue, but in cases like this – in extradition cases – it is not unusual for people to fight right down to the wire,” he said.
The Tribune reported on Tuesday that the Privy Council had dismissed the second and final appeal of “Ninety” Knowles, upholding an order for his extradition to the US to face drug charges.
The US government has sought Knowles’ extradition from the Bahamas to stand trial on drug charges in Florida since 2000.
As a result two extradition requests were made by the US authorities, which have led to a number of proceedings in Bahamian courts, resulting in the two appeals to the Privy Council.
The first extradition request was made as a result of a Federal Grand Jury indictment, in which Knowles, with others, was indicted on charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine and marijuana with intent to distribute and conspiracy to import the drugs into the US.
An order was made for the release of Knowles in February, 2002, which prompted the US to make a second extradition request, for which a provisional warrant was issued for Knowles on February 6, 2002.
This was founded on an indictment preferred by a federal grand jury on May 25, 2000.
It charged Knowles and others with counts of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States between June, 1995, and 1997.
The Privy Council pointed out that the second extradition request differed from the first in two respects, in that it was founded on an earlier grand jury indictment, and in that it related to an earlier period of time. It also charged different conspirators and depended on different evidence.
As parliament was in session yesterday, The Tribune was unable to contact Minister Mitchell or Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson up until press time last night.
By KARIN HERIG Tribune Staff Reporter
