U.S/Bermuda Legal Treaty Comes Into Force
The U.S/Bermuda Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty [MLAT] came into force today [Apr.12] when Premier Paula Cox and U.S. Consul General Grace Shelton exchanged instruments of ratification.
Both countries had signed the MLAT on January 12, 2009, the U.S. Senate subsequently ratified the treaty, and President Barack Obama signed the Instrument for Ratification on January 6, 2012.
The entry into force of the MLAT creates for the first time a treaty-based relationship of mutual legal assistance between the U.S. and Bermuda. It allows both Bermuda and the United States to counter criminal activities more effectively.
The Treaty should enhance ability to investigate and prosecute a wide variety of crimes, including economic crimes, money laundering, drug trafficking, and sex offenses.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the Bermuda Ministry of Justice will be in charge of implementing the Treaty. The Treaty provides for a broad range of cooperation in criminal matters. Under the Treaty, the U.S. and Bermuda agree to assist each other by, among other things:
- Producing evidence (such as testimony, documents, or items) obtained voluntarily or, where necessary, by compulsion;
- Arranging for persons, including persons in custody, to travel to the other country to provide evidence;
- Serving documents;
- Executing searches and seizures;
- Locating and identifying persons or items; and
- Freezing and forfeiting assets or property that may be the proceeds or instrumentalities of crime.
Consul General Shelton commented, “I welcome this major step in advancing law enforcement cooperation between the U.S. and Bermuda. The Treaty builds on an already strong base of bilateral collaboration, and I would like to thank Premier Cox and other representatives of the Government of Bermuda – in particular Attorney General Kim Wilson – who were instrumental in helping to conclude the negotiations that led to the signing of this treaty.”
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Funny, especially since I was recently told by my US attorney that my BDA Divorce ‘division of assets’ Judgement holds no water in that juristiction….
That was before today when we became part of that jurisdiction with a signature from Ewart’s ex minister of finance. It’s ironic how we a british colony are aligning our laws with the U.S. not the U.N. who are way better at catching international criminals & terrorist than America who has thousands residing there.
This whole thing is taking on a global hue!
Wow now we are giving our liberties away to the americains. Nice one PLP.
While America trade us their POWs in return. Its history repeating itself over & over, “We’ll trade you our shiny buttons for your freedom & land.”
El Salvador signed this treaty with America & the next thing they knew American made MS gang members were being extradited to El Salvador. The messed up thing was these gang members were second or third generation born & raised in America & knew little about they’re El Salvadorian ancestors way of life. We better hope we don’t have any descendants of Bermudians who are American gang members because America will dump them on us just as they have dumped their POWs.
Wake up Bermuda! PLP is doing everything possible to align us with America & separate us from Britain. There is no need for this treaty because we have already had years of cooperation with America that has lead to arrests without it. What’s next? Drafting our soldiers to fight Americas oil wars? See the trees from the forest Bermuda.
We’ve been aligning ourselves wit hUSA since the American Civil war. This is nothign new as your ancestors have always wanted that American allignace over the British one. We asked for it, now we have gotten it, though it took a long time.
SHHHH! You weren’t supposed to let that cat out of the bag. Well at least you didn’t mention the side Bermuda was supporting during the civil war. OOOPS! Did I type that! Well every country makes mistakes but we should have at least learned from them which we obviously have not.
I’m guessing that the people of Bermuda had no idea this agreement was taking place, until it actually was signed.
Not at all happy will aligning our policies with that of the US.
Once again the response will be, “We had to deceive you.” but Ewart has nothing to do with plp according to our premier. I guess Paula has taken the, “We had to deceive you.” campaign on herself.
The USA is a true “rogue state”… how many wars do they have going on now? About 8 or so, including the clandestine ones. Then there’s the infamous, massive failure, the War on Drugs, that creates so much fodder for the private prison system. A nasty bunch. That’s why the PLP love the Americans so much, they’re all about money. Just like the PLP.
Fire arms for personal use next on the agenda??
How about dealing with the stop list and the detrimental impact it has on young people caught with minimal amounts of plant material.
Don’t you realize that possession of minimal amounts of flowers supports world wide terrorism. Those byes on Carefree IV may have looked like Bermudians coming from the west indies but they were actually al qaeda coming from Afghanistan. America can’t have these non violent tree smugglers visiting their shores & neither can they have the unpatriotic ones sampling the product there either.
Wake up Tommy. There’s a big difference between heroin and marijuana!
I’m kidding! I’m kidding!
I wonder if we will be making the importation of kinder surprise chocolates & cuban cigars illegal like the U.S. does. I can see it now, “Welcome to Bermuda. May we remind you if you are in possession of a kinder surprise egg it is a criminal offense that can lead to a fine of up to $1000 dollars or imprisonment. Our female customs officer will search your child’s pockets now for any illegal chocolate contraband.”