What has come as a surprise, is a dramatic change to the status of Supt. Leon Clunis who was removed from the head of the Anti-Lottery Scam Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and placed at the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force (MOCA) in the office of the police commissioner Owen Ellington.
In fact, it was the commissioner who made the declaration in the latest Force Order of the JCF on Sunday, August 5, 2012. Now, without any apology or explanation, a new release was made on Saturday, August 11, 2012 by the Police High Command that Clunis was still very much in charge of the Anti-Lottery Scam unit and that he would now answer to MOCA which would in turn answer to the commissioner of police.
No reason was given for Clunis’s transfer in the first release, only a statement that it became effective on August 2, 2012.
The alleged transfer never came as a surprise because since the July 18, 2012 arrests of People’s National Party (PNP) councilors Michael Troupe and Sylvan Reid as major players in the infamous lottery scam, considerable pressure was placed on the superintendent to provide proof of the men’s involvement. The legal team of both men subsequently made a smokescreen of these charges when no proof was forthcoming. After the smoke was cleared, Troupe was charged for illegal possession of a firearm, while Reid was charged for unlawful possession of a television set.
Troupe’s son, who was held jointly with him, was subsequently charged for the gun leaving the father with nothing but a tarnished reputation. With Reid’s defence team well set to blow away the unlawful possession charge, Clunis is now in a precarious position after exposing the force to eminent legal actions. Also, the whole episode has created a rumour too that a hit was placed on the head of Clunis who has led a number of raids against these alleged lotto scammers confiscating mostly their high-end vehicles.
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