KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC—The ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has defended its leader and Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who earlier expressed concern that the Integrity Commission (IC) is “targeting” him after a new report by the body was tabled in the Parliament on Tuesday.
In a statement, the JLP said there “appears to be unrelenting, baseless, and coordinated attacks by a few agents within the Integrity Commission” on Holness’s reputation and administration.
In its report, the IC said its investigation found that a residential development, which is still under construction, is being constructed contrary to the terms of the planning approval and building permit issued by the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) on July 12, 2021.
It said the development is owned by Estatebridge Holdings Limited, which has as its directors the prime minister’s son, Adam, and Norman Brown, the prime minister’s business partner and chairman of the Urban Development Corporation.
But Prime Minister Holness said he is “not a director of the Company which is the subject of the report,” neither is he a shareholder or the owner of the property in question.
“Therefore, it is a puzzle to me why I am a subject of this report,” Holness said, adding that he has been informed that the development has been inspected by the competent authority, “which has confirmed that a number of rooms approved are the number of rooms constructed.”
Holness said, “It seems more than coincidence that this report was submitted to Parliament a few days before the judgment of the Supreme Court in a matter in which I am seeking judicial review of another report of the Commission.
Holness said the “fact that a statutory entity would exercise its powers in such a manner is troubling.
“This transparent attempt to attack my reputation will not deter me from serving Jamaica. At the same time, the Commission has made no conclusions or findings about me. I have asked my lawyers to review the report and advice further advice,” Holness said in his statement.
In its statement, the JLP said that “thrice in under two years, agents within the Commission have without credible basis attacked the prime minister’s reputation,” recalling that in February 2023, agents of the IC caused to be tabled a report in Parliament which “without credible basis suggested that the prime minister be charged due to alleged conflict of interest but delayed publishing a ruling by the competent authority that there is no basis for prosecution.
“Before the belated publication of the ruling which exonerated the prime minister, a senior director of the Commission circulated across the world, via social media, content which suggested the prime minister could be facing prosecution when at the time of circulation the director would likely have known that not to be the case.
“Several months later, the director, without any basis, publicly attempted to blame the Government of Jamaica for a criminal shooting on a colleague who the police said was in the habit of transporting a large amount of cash. The director resisted widespread public calls for his resignation. The director has not apologized for his reckless and intemperate utterance”.
The ruling party said that “in the second attack on the prime minister’s reputation, which took place in March this year, agents within the Commission caused to be tabled in Parliament a report which was filled with innuendos and misstatements of fact and established no finding of impropriety or illicit enrichment on the part of Prime Minister Holness, notwithstanding a thorough examination of the PM’s financial affairs by an independent international forensic accounting examiner.”
The JLP said the report, now the subject of a Judicial Review, “also unreasonably suggested that the prime minister be charged for not declaring negligible sums of money in his parents’ bank accounts, which the prime minister had absolutely no knowledge of or interest in. The competent authority within the Commission had ruled that no charge be laid”.
The party said “the third and potentially most egregious attack on the reputation of the prime minister” came in Tuesday’s report, which it said, “sought to without any credible basis link the prime minister to a company which he is neither a director nor shareholder of and does not own the property referenced therein.”
“The report also falsely stated that the entity had breached a building permit by constructing four rooms at a location where two were approved. This was stated in the report tabled in the House of Representatives on December 10 this year, despite documentation from the competent authority (the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation), which was dispatched as recently as November this year and stated that the entity abided by the two room stipulation in its permit.”
The JLP said it takes pride in its “contribution to the anti-corruption fight, which includes passage of the Integrity Commission Act and establishing and funding the Integrity Commission.
“We support the institution that is the Integrity Commission and insist that the anti-corruption fight not be sabotaged or undermined in any way, shape, or form.
“However, given the bizarre and baseless actions of some agents of the Commission, unfortunately, the party is constrained to make public its view that the Commission has been hijacked by a few agents who are acting unfairly, in a biased manner, and with malice towards Prime Minister Holness and the duly elected Government of Jamaica,” the JLP added.
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