FREE: Construction Project Connected to Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness Found by Integrity Commission To Be In Breach of Its Building Permit
Company Behind Project Denies Breach
This story was first released to paid subscribers on Dec. 11, 2024. It has been updated and is now being released for free.
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A housing construction project connected to Jamaican Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness has been found to be in breach of its building permit, according to a newly-released Integrity Commission report.
The 63-page report tabled in parliament December 10 has found that the development located at 2 Weycliffe Close in Beverly Hills in the parish of St. Andrew consisted of four four-bedroom townhouses instead of the four two-bedroom townhouses that were approved by the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC).
The Commission’s Director of Investigation (DI), Kevon Stephenson, found that in failing to comply with the terms and conditions of the building permit, section 17 (1) of the Building Act was breached.
Section 17(1) reads, “A person shall not carry out building work unless … (c) The building work is carried out in accordance with the building permit, this Act, the National Building Code or of any other regulations made under this Act.”
The appendices of the Commission’s report stated that the additional two bedrooms with added bathrooms would have put increased demand on the sewage system, which would have been designed for four units comprising of 2.5 bathrooms each rather than 16 bathrooms in total. It would also mean inadequate parking space allotment; the addition and removal of load-bearing walls, which have not been reviewed by the necessary agency; increased demand on the National Water Commission and JPS (power) systems; additional load on electrical components which would have been designed for an eight-bedroom complex rather than for 16 bedrooms; and a higher cost for the building permit.
Estatebridge Holdings Limited Responds
The residential development is being undertaken by Estatebridge Holdings Limited, according to the Commission’s report. (The Companies Office website shows the name Estatebridge Development Limited.)
In a statement since the Commission’s report was released, Estatebridge rejected the findings that the project consisted of four bedrooms instead of two. It noted that the KSAMC is the competent authority to determine room count and compliance, and “at no time did the KSAMC observe a breach in the room count.”
At the KSAMC’s most recent site visit, Estatebridge stated that the government entity noted “variations in size of areas and reconfiguration of layout, which normally occur during construction and does not materially change the building footprint.” It added that “no valid conclusion could be drawn regarding rooms without observing final structural walls and the installation of doors and other amenities.” (The KSAMC did on Dec. 18, 2024 confirm breaches but not related to room count. Mayor Andrew Swaby suggested that “modifications” had been made to the structure “before” KSAMC’s site visit on Oct. 31, 2024, and therefore the entity “could not refute the Integrity Commission’s claim that four-bedroom units were being constructed at an earlier stage.”)
Who’s Behind Estatebridge?
Estatebridge was incorporated on July 22, 2020, and its directors from inception and as of September 18, 2024 include the sister of PM Holness, Sydjea Anderson, and Norman Brown. Brown is the chairman of the government agencies Housing Agency of Jamaica and Urban Development Corporation that fall under the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, which is presided over by PM Holness. PM Holness’ son, Adam, is also a director of Estatebridge as of March 29, 2021.
Anderson, Brown and the junior Holness are all three also Estatebridge’s current shareholders.
A company, Imperium Investments Holdings Limited, of which PM Holness is the legal and beneficial owner, used to also be a shareholder of Estatebridge, according to the Commission’s report, but it either forfeited or surrendered all its shares by October 20, 2022.
That PM Holness is the sole director, shareholder and beneficial owner of Imperium, which had shares in Estatebridge at the time that the planning and/or building permit was issued on July 12, 2021 is the reason that “the DI therefore established that Dr. Holness is connected to the development at 2 Weycliffe Close.” It was also by virtue of the fact that the prime minister’s now defunct St. Lucian offshore company, Admat Incorporated, initially owned the Weycliffe Close land being developed. This finding was uncovered by the DI in his recently-concluded investigation into the statutory declarations of PM Holness.
The present Weycliffe Close investigation was triggered after the Integrity Commission on July 10, 2024 received allegations that:-
“Mr. Holness is the owner of property on which construction is being carried out, contrary to the terms of the planning approval and building permit granted by the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC).
That Mr. Holness often requests the service from his architect to draw a Blue Print, that will be sent to KSAMC, however, a second Blue Print will be drawn, that will be used for the actual construction. It is said that this was done … at one of his developments in Beverly Hills/Cherry Garden.”
After visiting the KSAMC on July 11, 2024 and enquiring as to whether PM Holness had, directly or indirectly, applied for a building permit/s for a development/s in Beverly Hills/Cherry Gardens, “The DI’s enquiries revealed that the only development in this area that Dr. Holness was in some way connected with is a residential development located at 2 Weycliffe Close, Beverly Hills, Kingston 6, St. Andrew.”
However, the DI found out that the development is owned by Estatebridge Holdings Limited.
The Commission’s report didn’t address the allegation of the two blueprints. But after investigating the circumstances surrounding the development, the DI concluded that there were breaches that were “deliberate” and that the “Directors of Estatebridge are liable.”
The DI’s Conclusions
The DI came to the conclusion that the breaches were deliberate based in part on conflicting accounts given to the Commission by Estatebridge director Brown, who himself stated that he has a supervisory function in relation to the development. He indicated in a witness statement, which he signed and for which he made a declaration of truth on December 4, 2023 in connection with the other investigation of PM Holness’ statutory declarations, that the project consists of “four (4) four bedroom townhouse.” At the time, the DI was not investigating any breaches of the building permit issued to Estatebridge by the KSAMC, and Brown was not a suspect. However, Brown later made contrary statements in a Judges’ Rules interview on October 31, 2024 after he had been informed that the DI was investigating alleged breaches of the referenced permit and that he was a suspect, saying that the scope of the project is “four town houses consisting of four habitable rooms which would include two (2) bedrooms in each unit.” He also said that his December 2023 statement should have read, “four habitable rooms, not four bedrooms.”
The DI’s conclusion was also based on the verbal statement of the building contractor, Kennado Nesbeth of KNN Designs and Consultants Limited, to the DI’s investigators on July 12, 2024 that there were departures from the building permit issued by the KSAMC and that efforts were being made to remedy the breaches — a statement he later denied making.
That date, July 12, 2024 was the same day that the DI’s on-site inspection revealed that the development, as constructed, consisted of “four(4) four (4) bedroom townhouses” where “a number of the partition walls, which constituted deviations from the approved building plan, were being removed.”
After a subsequent visit by the Commission’s investigators on July 23, 2024 to the site, “it was observed that the partition walls that were being demolished during the DI’s first inspection appeared to have been completely demolished.”
The DI’s Recommendations
The DI recommended that, given the breaches identified, the KSAMC should make their own assessment and take any actions as are necessary and appropriate to achieve compliance with the Building Act.
The Commission went on to say that the DI would ordinarily refer this matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). However, given the ruling of the DPP in a similar case previously investigated by the Commission that it referred to as the “Charlemont matter” wherein it was determined that it was purely within the remit of the KSAMC to initiate criminal proceedings, the DI chose to refer the report instead to the KSAMC.
The DI also concluded that the same KSAMC failed to effectively discharge its responsibilities to ensure compliance with the terms of the approvals granted. This was based on the fact that “though their paperwork relating to the three inspections they conducted suggest that the development was compliant at all stages, the DI’s inspections of the development belie this.”
The DI recommended that the KSAMC entity implement additional measures to ensure adherence to the provisions of the Building Act in relation to its inspection and post permit-monitoring responsibilities as well as conduct an administrative review of its existing compliance regime for building permits it issues to ensure adequate and competent human resources. The DI also said that “serious consideration should be given to ensuring that the relevant processes are ‘corruption proof’.”
The DI reiterated a recommendation made in the Charlemont matter to the “The Most Honourable Prime Minister and the Honourable Minister of Local Government and Community Development” that legislation be introduced that imposes pecuniary penalties on developers who willfully violate building and development permits for financial gain and that profits attributable to breaches should be forfeited.
He also recommended developers face debarment in respect of planning and development approval for an appropriate time period post breach, and that the Registrar of Titles and other local authorities should collaborate to ensure that titles are not issued for developments which are constructed in breach of planning, building and development permits.
Of note was that while the DI communicated with Estatebridge directors Brown and Anderson, he “did not deem it necessary to speak to the third Director, Mr. Adam Holness.” He said this was because while Donovan Williams, Estatebridge’s Company Secretary, had told the Commission that “the day-to-day operations of Estatebridge were ‘pretty much…shared among the directors’, in line with Mr. Brown’s evidence,” director Anderson had stated that “…business operations are…generally managed by Director Norman Brown.”
Donovan Williams is the brother of Delroy Williams, a councillor in PM Holness’ constituency, who was the mayor of Kingston up until March of this year. As mayor, he would have presided over the KSAMC when the building permit to Estatebridge for the development at Weycliffe Close would have been issued to them in July 2021.
Notwithstanding the then mayor’s relationship with PM Holness, there is no evidence to suggest that Delroy Williams had been involved in the issuing of the permit or the monitoring of the Weycliffe Close property. (The building approval letter seen by 18º North was signed by one Paula Rose-Rochester “for Chief Executive Officer”, who is Robert Hill.)
Since the release of the report, PM Holness released a statement saying “it is a puzzle” to him why he’s a subject of the report. “I am not a director of the Company which is the subject of the report, and I am not a shareholder in the company, nor do I own the property in question” he said.
However, in the statement, he didn’t explicitly deny that he was connected to the development, which is what the IC had stated in its report.
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Editor’s Notes:
This version of the story has been updated to include the KSAMC’s recent update on the breaches it found. It also makes clear that Imperium no longer owns any of Estatebridge’s shares, not just that it relinquished its majority shareholding. It also adds the last three paragraphs of the story related to Delroy Williams and also PM Holness’ subsequent response to the report.
In coming days, 18º North will further delve into the claim of the IC that PM Holness “is connected” to the Weycliffe Close development.
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