Ownership and Directorship of Estatebridge Development Clarified By Companies Office
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After the release of an Integrity Commission (IC) report connected him to a housing project found to be in breach of its building permit, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness clapped back saying “it is a puzzle” to him why he’s a subject of the report.
In a statement released late on December 10, the date of the report’s release, the prime minister stated, “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.”
But the IC didn’t say PM Holness currently owned the property or that he was a director or shareholder of the company that does, being Estatebridge Holdings Limited. It merely stated that PM Holness “is connected” to the development based on the fact that he is the sole director, shareholder and beneficial owner of Imperium Investments Holdings Limited, which “had” shares in Estatebridge at the time that the planning and/or building permit was issued on July 12, 2021. It was also by virtue of the fact that the prime minister’s now defunct St. Lucian offshore company, Admat Incorporated, initially owned the land being developed, which, the IC had stated in a previous report, had been transferred to Estatebridge via gift.
Nevertheless, to seek clarity on the ownership and directorship of Estatebridge, 18º North last week visited the Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) and ordered a status letter of the company. The ownership and directorship of Estatebridge is important to understand because 18º North, itself, had reported in April this year that PM Holness’ Imperium Investments is a shareholder in Estatebridge, a finding that had been confirmed by COJ personnel about two weeks prior to publication but conflicted with what they reportedly told the IC that Imperium was no longer a shareholder as of October 2022.