Christopher
The Jamaican authorities have started an investigation to verify the assets belonging to Christopher "Dudus" Coke.
Following his court appearance on Thursday, Coke was served with papers freezing his assets.
A probe is being carried out to determine how the accused drug lord acquired real estate and other properties.
Attorney-at-law Bert Samuels explained that the freezing of the assets of an accused person is normally done under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
“I don't know if they have served him under that Act but it is in two situations where this is done, one where there’s a conviction the other where under the Proceeds of Crime Act, you can be served with a notice to confiscate your property including money. But you have periods of time after which you can defend it, where you can go before a magistrate to deal with the matter,” he said.
Tom Tavares-Finson, one of Mr. Coke's lawyers in Jamaica, says contrary to popular opinion, the former West Kingston strongman is not the owner of significant assets.
Mr. Tavares-Finson said some of the assets which have been frozen under the restraining order include a house in the upscale community of Kirkland Heights, St. Andrew.
“That house is in his mom’s name, they have issued an order in relation to that and a couple of bank accounts. I’m hearing that he has hundreds of million dollars worth of assets but this is not so. He has one or two bank accounts and the house in Kirkland Heights … there’s no multimillion dollar estate,” Mr. Tavares-Finson said.
At least two companies, one of them a construction firm, Incomparable Enterprise Limited, have been linked to Coke. Incomparable Enterprise has been the beneficiary of lucrative sub-contracts on Jamaican government projects.
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