Jamaica's PM Andrew Holness Not Charged Over False Asset Declaration Allegations, But Questions Remain About Illicit Enrichment.

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Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness has avoided prosecution over what the Integrity Commission’s Director of Investigation (DI) called “false statements” in his asset declarations. However, the question of illicit enrichment remains.

In a ruling released Tuesday by the parliament, the Commission’s Director of Corruption Prosecution Keisha Prince-Kameka declined to charge PM Holness on the basis that it would be a challenge to establish that the omission of four bank accounts linked to his father, mother, and a former constituency office worker, that his name was also on, was intentional.

However, Prime Minister Holness may not be fully in the clear.

In a 177-page investigation report, also tabled in the parliament on Tuesday, the Commission’s DI, Kevon Stephenson, recommended that further investigations be carried out by the Financial Investigations Division (FID) and the Tax Administration of Jamaica (TAJ) into certain aspects of his report.

Mr. Stephenson said, in addition to what appears to be unexplained growth in the Prime Minister’s net worth of around $1.9 million (US$12,650) stemming from the 2022 period, there were questions surrounding the use of funds in 2019 by Positive Jamaica Foundation, a non-profit of which PM Holness was a director then — and about which 18º North has reported extensively.