Director of Corruption Prosecution for the Integrity Commission, Keisha Prince-Kameka, has ruled that Prime Minister Andrew Holness should face no charge regarding his uncertified statutory declarations.
However, the Commission’s Director of Investigations, Kevon Stephenson, has raised concerns about Holness’ declarations, suggesting he has fallen short of what Stephenson calls ‘the higher duty’ to the public expected of someone in his esteemed role.
The Commission’s report, which was tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, affirms Nationwide News’ earlier reporting on the matter.
Chevon Campbell tells us more.
After an exhaustive three-year investigation that concluded just weeks ago, Director of Corruption Prosecution, Keisha Prince-Kameka, announced that Mr. Holness has no legal case to answer concerning his statutory declarations.
Previously, Nationwide News revealed that Director of Investigations, Kevon Stephenson, had recommended that serious consideration be given to pressing charges against the Prime Minister relating to four accounts linked to his father, mother, and a former constituency office manager.
The total across these accounts amounts to three-hundred-and-84 thousand Jamaican dollars.
However, Mrs. Prince-Kameka says establishing an intentional omission in Mr. Holness’ statutory declarations would pose a significant challenge.
This is in contrast to her colleague, Mr. Stephenson, who insists that as Prime Minister and head of the government, Holness bears a heightened responsibility to uphold Jamaica’s laws, and thus cannot escape scrutiny.
Stephenson argues that a leader in public service must exemplify the virtues of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership.
He emphasized that while he does not question Mr. Holness’ commitment to these principles, several findings from his report contradict the virtues.
Another concern raised was whether Mr. Holness’ 2021 statutory declarations suggest he possesses assets exceeding what his lawful earnings would allow.
Mr. Stephenson is concerned by an unexplained increase of over 1-point-9 million Jamaican dollars in Mr. Holness’ net worth for the year 2022.
Despite these indicators, Mr. Stephenson admits he cannot definitively conclude that the Prime Minister has unlawfully enriched himself, maintaining consistency with previous reporting by Nationwide News.
The Commission’s Director of Corruption Prosecution also concurred that no charges would be laid against Holness on this front.
However, another contentious issue has emerged surrounding the Prime Minister’s investment in a bond.
The Prime Minister’s legal team asserts that due to a bank error, 30-thousand-US dollars from his Positive Jamaica Foundation was wrongly allocated to a 60-thousand-US-dollar bond purchase.
Yet, the Director of Investigations found this assertion misleading and lacking in supporting evidence.
Stephenson also called into question the operations of companies linked to Mr. Holness. These are Imperium, Estatebridge, Positive Media and Greenemarald.
His suggestion is that their activity may breach Section 99 of the Income Tax Act, potentially undermining tax laws and depriving the government of a proper assessment of taxes owed for the years 2021 and 2022.
Calling for an in-depth inquiry, Stephenson is urging the Financial Investigations Division to delve deeper into these matters.
The call was echoed by the Integrity Commissioners, who contend that true resolution is impossible until the FID conducts its investigations.
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