Integrity Commission recommends charges against Minister Andrew Wheatley for illicit enrichment

The Integrity Commission has recommended that Cabinet Minister Dr. Andrew Wheatley be prosecuted on four offences, including illicit enrichment, following a report tabled Wednesday afternoon in the House of Representatives.

Dr. Wheatley, Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for science, technology and special projects, is the first parliamentarian named in a wider probe that has drawn attention to eight legislators suspected of illicit enrichment. That offence applies when a public servant cannot show how assets in their possession exceed what they lawfully earned.

Covering the period from 2013 to 2022, the commission put the amount of unexplained enrichment at roughly $164.2 million. Dr. Wheatley was given a chance to account for those assets but did not provide a satisfactory explanation, the body said.

Investigators also found that he failed to supply information on statutory declarations for 2018 and 2019. He did not declare five loans held in his name and did not give full particulars of 20 properties he owned either jointly or in his own name.

The commission is therefore recommending charges for knowingly making false statements in statutory declarations under two statutes, failing without reasonable cause to provide information as required by the director of information and complaints, and illicit enrichment. A conviction on the illicit enrichment count could bring a fine of up to $5 million and imprisonment of up to five years.

The report has been sent to Tax Administration Jamaica for assessment and the application of any penalties that may follow. That step comes after findings that Western Medical, a company of which Dr. Wheatley was the sole proprietor, earned between $15 million and $26 million from 2010 to 2013, yet filed no tax returns for 2011 or 2012 and none for 2013.