The net worth of Prime Minister Andrew Holness grew by $51.5 million over the five years ending December 31, 2021.
The information is contained in an investigation report into the prime minister’s 2021 statutory declarations which remain uncertified.
The commission said its calculation includes the conversion of income and net worth from US to Jamaican dollars. It said unexplained changes in net worth was calculated as $4,491,798.43 (net effect) for the year ended 31/12/2021.
“Although the declarant’s net worth appeared to align with income for some years, the growth of the net assets of companies for which the declarants and close family members are majority shareholders and the actual contributions of the minority shareholders need to be further examined,” said the commission in its report.
The commission said its investigation was conducted based on a referral in respect of the prime minister’s statutory declaration for the year 2021.
It explained that “in order, however, to thoroughly investigate the issues raised, the DI’s (director of investigation) enquiries had to be expanded to 2018 and up to 2023”.
The IC’s report said its DI, Kevon Stephenson, “was unable to arrive at a conclusion regarding illicit enrichment in respect of Mr Holness as he did not have access to a schedule of Mr Holness’ personal expenses over the relevant period, and due to unresolved questions concerning the operations of companies with which Mr Holness is connected”.
The report said “the DI nonetheless conducted a net worth analysis in respect of Mr Holness, and a company wholly owned by him. The referenced analysis did not reveal any unexplained growth in Mr Holness’ net worth for the year 2021. The analysis, however, revealed unexplained growth in Mr Holness’ net worth for the year 2022”.
