KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Government legislators Friday publicly supported Prime Minister Andrew Holness in the controversy surrounding his asset declarations to the Integrity Commission (IC) as the main opposition People’s National Party (PNP) brushed aside threats of a lawsuit by the head of Government.
“It is clear that the Parliamentary Opposition has been misusing and misrepresenting reports of the Integrity Commission to malign the prime minister,” Leader of Government Business in Parliament, Edmund Bartlett, said in a statement outlining the position of the caucus of Government legislators.
“It is important to note that the Integrity Commission has not identified any evidence of wrongdoing by the prime minister despite years of investigation, significant expenditure of funds, and overseas technical assistance,” Bartlett said, adding that the Government caucus is also concerned “about the Opposition’s apparent insider knowledge of the Integrity Commission’s activities which should be confidential.
“We want to make it abundantly clear that we will not tolerate any politically motivated attacks on the prime minister’s character or his leadership,” Bartlett, the Tourism Minister, said, adding that “as representatives of the Jamaican people, we stand united with Prime Minister Holness and we will defend his name and reputation with the full force of the Constitution and the law.”
On Thursday, government legislators in the Senate adopted a similar position.
The Integrity Commission has recommended that the Financial Investigation Division (FID) and Tax Administration Jamaica examine aspects of Holness’s financial affairs.
The PNP has called for Holness’ immediate resignation, claiming that the prime minister has lost the trust and confidence of Jamaicans following the tabling of the report.
The FID has since said it will comprehensively analyze the Integrity Commission’s Investigation Report into the Prime Minister’s Statutory Declarations.
In a release on Thursday, the FID said it would also seek to determine what, if any, specific area may be probed in keeping with its mandate. It added that it has referred the report to the FID and that “there can be no finality” in the certification of assets for 2019-2022 without further probe.
The Integrity Commission’s Director of Corruption Prosecutions, Keisha Prince-Kameka, has ruled out criminal charges against Holness for allegedly making false income declarations.
Meanwhile, the PNP said Friday that the “specter of a frivolous lawsuit” will not stop it from carrying out its duties and constitutional responsibilities.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Holness said he had instructed his attorneys to initiate legal action against senior members of the PNP following comments about the Integrity Commission’s report on his financial affairs.
In a two-page statement, Holness attorneys Henlin Gibson Henlin said that their client did not lie about his status when he told journalists that he was unaware of any Government member of parliament being under probe for illicit enrichment.
The lawyers maintain that Holness was unaware of any investigation into his statutory declarations until August 18, 2023, a day after he told journalists that no parliamentarian on the Government’s side was under probe.
However, the PNP’s legal advisor, Anthony Hylton, said in a statement that the threat of legal action would not deter the Opposition.
“The People’s National Party will continue to promote and defend the rights of the Jamaican people to good governance, transparency, and integrity in public life. The threat of legal action will neither deter nor distract from that mission,” he said.
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