Jamaica’s Prime Minister and chief of the Jamaica Labour Celebration (JLP), Dr. Andrew Holness, has directed his authorized group to take motion in opposition to senior members of the Individuals’s Nationwide Celebration (PNP) for making “false and defamatory statements” relating to his data of an Integrity Fee probe into alleged illicit enrichment.
In a press launch, JLP Senator Abka Fitz-Henley, a member of the celebration’s communication taskforce, said, “Ought to they not take the suitable motion, lawsuits shall be filed in opposition to the PNP members who made the false statements and with none credible foundation defamed the prime minister regarding the query of when he got here into consciousness of a bootleg enrichment probe.”
Fitz-Henley additional emphasised that Prime Minister Holness had been truthful when he informed the media on August 17, 2023, that he was unaware of any JLP member being contacted by the Integrity Fee relating to an investigation into illicit enrichment.
“The prime minister and celebration chief takes his fame severely and won’t enable members of the PNP to aim to make use of false and malicious statements to destroy his character of their determined bid for political energy,” Fitz-Henley added.
Holness’ attorneys from the legislation agency Henlin Gibson Henlin issued a press release on Thursday with the headline, ‘The Prime Minister didn’t lie’, which was signed by legal professional Georgia Gibson Henlin KC.
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The attorneys outlined that not one of the communication by way of letters from the IC referenced part 14(5) of the CPA/Decide’s Rule Discover or the phrases “illicit enrichment.”
Additional, Holness’ authorized group mentioned the timeline it offered confirms that the prime minister didn’t lie when he mentioned on August 17, 2023, that he was not conscious of the investigation.
The JLP’s press launch additionally raised issues over what they described as “the looks that members of the PNP have distinctive entry to data from the Integrity Fee.”
Moreover, the JLP known as on the PNP to deal with latest stories indicating that at the very least 5 of their members, together with a senior official, are presently underneath investigation for illicit enrichment. “The celebration restates its name for the PNP to point the way it will tackle a revelation in a latest newspaper report,” the assertion concluded.
Learn extra: Prime Minister Holness’ net worth grew by $51.5m over five years, Integrity Commission reports
