Peter Espeut | Between a rock and a hard place

I do not think that many appreciate the difficult corner into which Prime Minister Andrew Holness has painted himself.

For many years, the financial affairs of one of his Cabinet colleagues – Dr Andrew Wheatley – have been thoroughly investigated by the Integrity Commission (IC), and on Wednesday, June 17, they recommended that four criminal charges be preferred against him:

(1) Illicit enrichment, because they found that he acquired assets disproportionate to his lawful earnings;

(2) Knowingly making a false statement in a Statutory Declaration, contrary to section 15(1)(b) of the Parliamentary Integrity of Members Act, 1973, for the period 2013-2017;

(3) Knowingly making a false statement in a Statutory Declaration; contrary to section 43(2)(a) of the Integrity Commission Act, 2017, for the period 2018-2022;

(4) Failing, without reasonable cause, to provide information as the Director of Information and Complaints may require; contrary to section 43(1)(b) of the Integrity Commission Act, 2017.

[See the website of the Integrity Commission at https://integrity.gov.jm/investigation-report-concerns-mp-dr-andrew-wheatley-2010-2022-acquired-assets-disproportionate-his-lawful-earnings-made-false-statements-statutory-declarations-and-failed-provide-information-requested-law.

Dr. Wheatley has steadfastly denied these allegations, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence until otherwise determined in a court of law. But civil society has demanded that he resign his cabinet position until his name is cleared, and that if he fails to resign, the prime minister should remove him.[No one has asked him to resign as member of parliament; the Jamaican Constitution allows convicted criminals to be MPs].

At time of writing – 14 days after the release of the IC Report – Dr Wheatley has not resigned, and the PM has failed to remove him from his Cabinet. PM Holness has stated “Dr Wheatley retains my confidence in the work that he has been doing in the Office of the Prime Minister, particularly AI and cyber, and these other areas.”

To be fair to the prime minister, he has not said that he retains confidence that Dr Wheatley is innocent of the allegations levelled against him by the Integrity Commission; the PM claims not to have completed a full assessment of the 89-page IC Report.

But during a previous stint in the Holness cabinet, in the face of much less serious corruption allegations, in July 2018 Dr. Wheatley resigned from the cabinet, probably under pressure from the prime minister..

I believe the reason Dr Wheatley is still in the cabinet is PM Holness finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place, because of his own difficulties with the Integrity Commission.

On September 17, 2024 the IC released a report on the finances of PM Holness, entitled: “Investigation Report into the Statutory Declarations submitted by The Most Honourable Mr Andrew Holness, Prime Minister, for the years 2019-2022, in respect of concerns that he owns assets disproportionate to his lawful earnings, and that he made false statements in his Statutory Declarations, by way of omissions, contrary to law” [See https://integrity.gov.jm/sites/default/files/Special%20Section%2036%283%29%20Report.pdf].

In the 171-page report, the IC Director of Investigation stated that he could not conclude on the question of illicit enrichment, but highlighted unexplained financial discrepancies in Dr Holness’s 2021 income filings and raised questions about tax compliance and transactions of over $470 million involving connected companies. The Commission said it could not certify the prime minister’s income declaration, and referred the matter to the Financial Investigations Division, citing the prime minister’s failure to provide expense details.

FLAWED REPORT

Dr Holness has denied any wrongdoing, claiming the report is flawed and unfairly suggests unethical and criminal conduct by him and affiliated firms. On September 30, 2024, less than two weeks after the release of the report, the prime minister Holness applied to the Supreme Court for permission to seek judicial review of the actions of the Integrity Commission.’

Further, PM Holness has filed a motion to declare the Corruption Prevention Act to be unconstitutional, and that the offence called “illicit enrichment” be struck out. He argues that the probe into his filings for 2019-2022 was premised on what he believes is an “unconstitutional” provision of the Corruption Prevention Act - Section 14 (5), which outlines that a person who fails to satisfactorily explain their wealth relative to their earnings commits the offence of “illicit enrichment”. He asserts that the provision undermines persons’ constitutional entitlement to the presumption of innocence and should be struck down.

Don’t you see why PM Holness cannot ask Dr Wheatley to resign?Dr Holness is himself under investigation for illicit enrichment, and has a case in court to declare the crime of “illicit enrichment” to be unconstitutional.

If PM Holness asks Dr Wheatley to resign because he is accused of illicit enrichment, then the PM would be acknowledging that there is a valid crime called “illicit enrichment”, which would undermine the case he has in court against the Integrity Commission.

And then the question may well be asked: if Dr Wheatley must resign because he is under investigation for illicit enrichment, then should not Dr. Holness also resign, because he is under investigation for the same crime?

Dr Holness is personally compromised in this whole matter.

He must be grateful that he has been treated leniently by the electorate, having been re-elected in 2025 despite being under investigation for corruption. He is banking on the fact that Jamaican voters are soft on corruption, and that he can get away with taking no action against Dr Wheatley.

In the meantime, last Friday Dr Wheatley went to the Supreme Court seeking permission to apply for a judicial review of the IC decision that he be slapped with multiple charges, including illicit enrichment; and is also seeking a declaration that no charges be laid against him until a hearing for the judicial review is held and a determination made. This could drag on for years! Right to the next election!

Remember that it has been revealed that at least eight Jamaican politicians are under investigation for illicit enrichment. We know only two. Who are the other six? Who does the secrecy benefit? How many of them are in the cabinet? Does this bother anyone?

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com