Golding tells PM to sack Wheatley; says minister facing illicit enrichment prosecution 'cannot remain in Cabinet'

Opposition Leader Mark Golding says Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness should remove Dr Andrew Wheatley from the Cabinet following the Integrity Commission’s recommendation that Wheatley be charged with four offences, including illicit enrichment.

“The minister who has been recommended for prosecution on four criminal charges, including the serious offence of illicit enrichment, cannot be allowed to remain in the Cabinet of Jamaica,” Golding said in a statement on Wednesday evening.  “Prime Minister Holness must act immediately. The integrity of our public institutions and the trust of the Jamaican people demand nothing less.”

The IC says Wheatley is to be charged with illicit enrichment, knowingly making false statements in statutory declarations and failing to provide information required by the Integrity Commission.

According to the Integrity Commission’s Director of Corruption Prosecution, the recommendations follow an investigation which found that Wheatley allegedly acquired assets disproportionate to his lawful earnings by approximately $164 million between 2013 and 2022 and failed to provide a satisfactory explanation when required.

Wheatley has rejected the allegations and said he will challenge the IC in court. 

Golding also pointed to Wheatley’s previous resignation from Cabinet and questioned Holness’ decision to reappoint him last year.  

“This raises the question whether Wheatley informed the prime minister of this ongoing IC investigation, or kept it from him,” Golding said. “Either way, the decision to reappoint him to the Cabinet has now been shown to be a grave misjudgment.”

He further said the Prime Minister has a duty to uphold standards of good governance. 

“Good governance is not a mere slogan, it is a required standard,” Golding said. “The prime minister has a duty to uphold that standard, immediately and without hesitation.”

Wheatley, a senior Jamaica Labour Party politician and Minister Without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, previously served as Minister of Science, Technology and Mining. 

He resigned from Cabinet in 2018 amid controversies linked to Petrojam and was reappointed following the general election in September last year.

The Integrity Commission report, tabled in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, also indicates that the Director of Corruption Prosecution has recommended charges relating to two counts of making false statements in statutory declarations covering the periods 2013 to 2017 and 2018 to 2022, as well as failing to provide information requested by investigators.

The investigation further raised concerns about alleged omissions in Wheatley’s statutory declarations, including loans, investments and property holdings, and flagged possible tax compliance issues for referral to the Tax Administration Jamaica Commissioner General.

The findings were compiled following a probe by the Director of Investigations, before being reviewed by the Director of Corruption Prosecution, who made the charging recommendations under the Integrity Commission Act.

In his statement, Wheatley said he was "amazed" at the report, adding: "I strongly and categorically reject as patently false, grossly misleading and inaccurate the allegations by the director of investigations." 

He said the director "clearly decided not to take into account approximately 168-million in rental income which I lawfully accumulated and declared over the nine years," and also failed to factor in roughly $50 million in loan repayments tied to his real estate business. 

"If he required further evidence that this money was lawful rental income he could have but did not request what further evidence he required," Wheatley said, calling the conclusions "unreasonable and unfair."

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at [email protected] or [email protected].