By: Staff Writer
September 27, 2024
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness is facing calls for his resignation amid an Integrity Commission investigation that revealed that Holness had omitted bank accounts from his declarations, including a US bank account that was incorrectly reported with the wrong dollar balance by the institution.
The recommendations are contained in a 179-page investigation report into his statutory declarations which was tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
While the commission’s director of investigation ruled that no charges be brought against Holness for failing to declare four bank accounts during his statutory filings, the commission raised a litany of questions in relation to bond transactions and loans taken out by companies in which at least one of his sons is connected. Questions were raised about whether the companies were compliant with their statutory filings with the Tax Administration Jamaica.
Holness’ association with the accounts – including loan, mandatory savings and investment related accounts – was among the findings of the Integrity Commission’s (IC) investigative report on the financial affairs of the prime minister.
There has been speculation on social media about whether the accounts associated with Holness are unusual. And, at a press conference last week, senior members of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) questioned why the prime minister would need to have 28 bank accounts.
Dennis Chung, however, a chartered accountant with a solid track record in finance, says it’s not extraordinary that 28 accounts are associated with the prime minister who has had multiple businesses during his almost 30 years in public life.
The opposition PNP is demanding the resignation of Holness in the wake of the IC report and are questioning whether he has enriched himself since becoming head of government more than six years ago.
“Jamaica now finds itself in an unprecedented situation where its head of government is embroiled in a prolonged and unresolved integrity investigation. The state apparatus is investigating its own prime minister. Despite his reassurances in parliament, Mr. Holness is clearly distracted by the fight to clear his name. This battle, being waged from the highest office in the land, is undermining our democratic system and eroding public confidence in the government,” the PNP added.
The investigation had done a forensic probe into bank accounts of the PM and companies associated with him, noting that despite the fact that the firms had done positive business over the years, one of them, Imperium, had filed nil tax returns for 2021-22. Positive Media, another did not file returns for the same period while Estatebridge did not trouble the tax office for 2021 as well.
The integrity commission had previously written to the PM suggesting that it wanted to determine whether “the proceeds of its investigations, so far, have determined that you own assets disproportionate to your lawful earnings, insofar as have been declared by you.”
Holness asserts, that he has done nothing wrong and that he rejects the findings that suggest that he has enriched himself.