By TAMARA McKENZIE, Assistant News Editor, tamara@nasguard.com

The decision of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission to appoint Rubie Nottage as a Justice of the Supreme Court, after she was indicted by the U.S. almost 20 years ago on alleged drug-money laundering offenses, was "surprising", an official at the United States Embassy told The Nassau Guardian in an exclusive interview.

"We find it very surprising that somebody who was under indictment would be appointed to such a position to be a judge," said the U.S. Embassy's Daniel O'Connor, who serves as Embassy spokesman and political and economic chief.

Nottage has a lengthy and impressive list of legal achievements under her belt. She has played an active role in the Anglican Church, having been appointed the first Bahamian female chancellor. But almost 20 years ago on March 29, 1989, Nottage and her husband, former Progressive Liberal Party Cabinet Minister Kendal Nottage, were both indicted and placed on the U.S. stop list for alleged drug money laundering offenses.

The criminal docket (#1:89-cr-00068-EFH) filed by the U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts against the Notttages, outlined that Rubie Nottage was indicted on various alleged pending counts relating to conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to engage in racketeering, and the use of interstate and foreign facilities in aid of racketing.

As it now stands, the statue of limitations has expired on the alleged offenses levied against Rubie Nottage. The drug charges were never filed and she was never convicted.

Members of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission have reportedly come under fire for the recent appointment of Nottage, but on Thursday, The Guardian received mixed views about the Commission's move.

The US Embassy's O'Connor said, "Given the fact that she was indicted in 1989 in the United States on several charges, it is surprising that she would have been considered for such a position."

When asked, O'Connor said he could not state if Nottage was still on the U.S. stop list as a result of being indicted.

Former president of the Bahamas Bar Council Peter Maynard, said the Judicial and Legal Service Commission, headed by Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall, conducts a very thorough review of individuals before making an appointment. He said Rubie Nottage is presumed to be innocent as she had not been convicted of any offense.

"She has been practicing [law] for quite a number of years and she is also quite involved with education and the church," Maynard told The Guardian. "I don't see the point of the presumption of innocence if she is still presumed [by the public] to be guilty because she has been charged or indicted. That seems to be the very principle of our system and she seems to be quite an able lawyer, perhaps more able than some other judges who have been appointed over the years, and if you look at her qualifications, she has as much [qualifications] as most or more than most."

However, another lawyer who spoke to The Guardian yesterday on the condition anonymity, said even though Nottage has not been convicted of an offense, the mere fact that she had been indicted raises "serious questions" about her appropriateness to serve as a judge.

"It is just the perception that is out there and one must also question the judgment exercise that was carried out by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission in selecting her," the lawyer said.

The Guardian made several attempts this week but was unable to reach Rubie Nottage and individuals who sit on the Commission. President of the Bahamas Bar Council Wayne Munroe was also said to be off the island until next week.

The Judicial and Legal Service Commission is appointed by the prime minister and is headed by Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall. A new commission is appointed every five years shortly after the general election. The Commission is mandated to sit once a month but is said to meet as often as necessary, based on the urgency to fill certain positions. Some of the existing members of the Commission include attorneys Lester J. Mortimer Jr. and Donna Harding-Lee. A member of the clergy also sits on the Commission as well as a justice from the Court of Appeal.

A former member of the Commission who also spoke to The Guardian on the condition of anonymity yesterday, said when it came to selecting justices of the Supreme Court, many individuals — residents as well as non-residents — apply and submit letters as well as resumes.

The former Commission member said recommendations are also made of a particular person, who is later approached to serve as a judge or magistrate.

"All persons are vetted, they have to meet the application process and they must be qualified to hold the position," the former member said. "The person must also engage in interviews before the Commission. We got a lot of letters from people who sent in their applications and we basically had to read their resumes before the Commission decided who would be invited to be interviewed."

The Guardian's files revealed that in March 1989, United States Attorney Jeremiah T. O'Sullivan announced the unsealing of an indictment charging seven persons with crimes relating to the "laundering" of over $5 million obtained by Salvatore Michael Caruana through unlawful drug importations.

At the time, O'Sullivan noted that since April 1984, Caruana had been a fugitive from federal drug charges pending in the District of Massachusetts. The unsealed indictment revealed that Caruana and four others, Edmund Hurley, David Gorwitz, Charles Burnett and Bahamian attorney Rubie Nottage were charged under the RICO statute with engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity consisting of 103 violations of the Travel Act.

The act prohibited interstate and foreign travel, and use of facilities in interstate and foreign commerce, to distribute the proceeds of an unlawful drug business. The indictment also charged Joseph Balliro and Nottage's husband Kendal Nottage, a member of parliament and former Cabinet minister at the time, with conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by laundering over $5 million of the proceeds of Caruana's unlawful drug business.

Rubie Nottage, who was 45 years old at the time of the indictment, was allegedly charged with conspiring to violate the RICO statute based on 64 alleged Travel Act violations, substantive RICO and Travel Act violations, and conspiring to defraud the IRS. Her husband Kendal, who was 48 at the time, was charged with conspiring to defraud the IRS.

According to The Guardian's 1989 records, the tax conspiracy count charges that from 1978 to 1981, Caruana obtained at least $7.6 million from unlawful marijuana sales, and that from 1978 through 1987, the defendant conspired to hide Caruana's unlawfully obtained money from the IRS.

The principal means used by the defendants to hide Caruana's money was through the formation of sham corporations or "fronts" of which seven were in The Bahamas, four in Panama and three in the United States. The indictment alleged that these entities, formed solely for the purpose of laundering Caruana's drug proceeds, loaned more than $2.5 million and invested an additional $2.5 million in the Islander Hotel in The Bahamas and in oil and gas leases, airplanes, real estate and luxury automobiles.

The indictment also alleged that the defendants participated in the conspiracy to defraud the IRS by having Edund M. Hurley arrange for the formation of Bahamian, Panamanian and domestic "front" corporations, arranged loans and investments and the repayment and sale of loans and investments, brought prospective borrowers to The Bahamas and transported large amounts of currency for various transactions.

A statement released by the Nottages on March 29, 1989 outlined that the incorporation of companies in The Bahamas by foreign attorneys is an everyday occurrence. Rubie Nottage noted that everything she did in pursuance of her instructions was in keeping with Bahamian law and standard legal and banking practices. Nottage said in 1984 she appeared before the Commission of Inquiry in The Bahamas and gave evidence concerning these matters and the Commission did not conclude that she had violated any law.

"Kendal's dealings with the same attorneys in Boston were also very straightforward," the published statement read. "He simply negotiated a loan to pay off a mortgage loan on the hotel which he had owned and occupied since 1976, before he became a Cabinet minister, and before the Bostonians entered the picture. The loan was open, above board, and a matter of public record. No money was ever sent to The Bahamas, because both lenders were in the Boston area. The loan was arranged by the attorneys who did not disclose the identity of the lender.

"As far as the indictment is concerned, neither Kendal nor I was informed that we were the targets of an investigation, even though I have at all times expressed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Ullmann my willingness to co-operate with and assist him. I, in fact, requested on several occasions that he come to The Bahamas and take my evidence. He declined. I do not consider myself bound by any attorney-client privilege, where any client misguides or misinstructs me to take an action which he alone knows is in pursuit of an illegal design."

The Nottages said they truly believed that the indictments had political overtones and were part of a sustained effort to smear The Bahamas and its government, and also appeared to be contrary to natural justice.

"It is duplicitous if, on the one hand, we are ordered by the Justice Department to appear to answer an indictment, and on the other hand, we are refused entry by the State Department to the courts of that jurisdiction because of the cancellation of our travel privileges to the United States," the Nottages' 1989 statement read. "In any event the truth is on our side, and we fully expect to be vindicated."

A statement released from the Cabinet office on March 29, 1989 following the Nottages indictment, outlined that the United States Embassy in The Bahamas had not yet furnished any details of the allegations made in the reported indictment, but from the little known, it would appear that the allegations contained in the federal complaint released in Boston were not new and dealt with matters already exhaustively investigated with the assistance of US law enforcement by the Commission of Inquiry in 1984.

"The Commission did not find the Nottages guilty of any act or offense inconsistent with the law," the Cabinet statement outlined. "The government of The Bahamas has noted the attempt to extend the United States' legal jurisdiction beyond its shores into the sovereign territory of an independent nation.

"The Bahamas government has also taken note of the timing of this incident and other events in relation to The Bahamas, which have been initiated in the United States one month before the Congress is due to consider the certification of The Bahamas as a cooperating country in the fight against drug trafficking."