IC Wants TAJ, FID to Probe Companies Tied to Holness

The Integrity Commission wants Tax Administration Jamaica, TAJ and the Financial Investigations Division, FID to probe the accounts of companies with ties to Prime Minister Holness for potential irregularities.

The accounts show millions of dollars being transferred between them.

A report from the Commission into the prime minister’s statutory declarations, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, raises several questions about the figures.

Mahiri Stewart tells us more.

According to the Integrity Commission, Mr Holness is connected with, or had financial interests in three companies. They are Imperium, Positive Media and Estatebridge.

A forensic examination of bank accounts attributed to Mr. Holness and the referenced companies for the period January 1, 2020 to June 13, 2023, revealed inter-company deposits and withdrawals in excess of $470 million and $427 million respectively.

Deposits in the sum of more than $250 million were made to Imperium’s accounts over the stated period. Imperium is wholly owned by Mr. Holness and is a holding vehicle for his assets.

Imperium is the successor company to Admat, a company which was incorporated in St Lucia for a similar purpose.

Mr. Holness’ residence and all other substantial assets are held in Imperium. The company makes investments as well as acquires loans.

Positive Media, meanwhile, was set up to, among other things, manage Mr Holness’ image.

There were initially two shareholders in the company, Mr. Holness holding 99 shares and Mr. Mark Azan, holding one
share.

However, Mr. Holness forfeited his shares in 2022. They are now held by his son Matthew Holness, while Mark Azan remains a shareholder.

Mr. Holness says Positive Media is funded through Imperium. But the Integrity Commission says the evidence does not support this.

The director of investigations, Kevon Stephenson, says Positive Media has made transfers of more than $70 million to Imperium over the period. He also referenced transfers from Imperium’s accounts totaling more than $51 million.

This leaves a surplus of just under $19 million in Imperium’s account based on the funds transferred thereto from Positive Media.

Stephenson says an examination of tax returns filed by Positive Media does not suggest that the company generated sufficient capital to be able to provide the loan amount mentioned above.

He says this, therefore, raises questions as to the operations of Positive Media and whether the full facts have been presented. Mr. Stephenson says this is something which will require a thorough investigation by the FID.

Meanwhile, another company, Greenemerald, is said to have provided loans totaling more than $20 million to Positive Media between 2021 and 2022.

The funds were provided by way of bank transfers. A total of almost $25 million was transferred from Positive Media’s account to Greenemerald’s account. That’s $4.3million dollars in excess of the loan amount.

The director of investigations says no explanation was provided for this surplus.

Furthermore, Stephenson, having reviewed Greenemerald’s nil tax returns for 2021 and the returns for 2022, notes that they do not suggest that the company is generating the level of income that would support the provision of such loans.

Mr. Stephenson says based on the foregoing, referrals to the FID and TAJ are justifiable.

He says the agencies will need to determine whether the companies named are operating within the parameters of the laws of Jamaica and whether recommendations ought to be made to any other authority.

The Integrity Commissioners supported the call. They say no finality can be obtained on the matter until this is done.