JLP rejects PNP's call for Holness' resignation

Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesperson, Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, is rejecting as "desperate and unwarranted" a call from the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) for Prime Minister Andrew Holness to leave office immediately in light of the findings of a probe of his assets.

She says the JLP maintains that the Integrity Commission report upon which the PNP premised its call found the prime minister culpable of no wrongdoing.

"The Jamaica Labour Party wishes to make it clear that the Prime Minister will remain in office," a media release from Cuthbert-Flynn on Wednesday afternoon stated.

"The position taken by the PNP is desperate, baseless and without merit. It is important to note that unlike some individuals in the PNP, the Prime Minister does not hide his assets in trust funds", Cuthbert-Flynn commented.

She countered the resignation demand from the PNP with her own call for Opposition Leader Mark Golding and opposition Senator Peter Bunting to resign over the alleged 'sweetheart deals' between the former PNP Government and the former Investment Bank, Dehring, Bunting and Golding (DB&G) Ltd, of which both men were principals.

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The deals were signed in 2004 and 2005.

In 2010, the then contractor general found that there was nothing illegal in the so-called 'sweetheart deals'. However, he concluded that aspects of the agreement were irregular and highly improper.

Cuthbert-Flynn argued that the Integrity Commission report which extensively examined the financial affairs of Holness did not involve public funds an does not rise to the level of the then Office of the Contractor General (OCG) investigation into the alleged 'sweetheart deal'.

"The fact of the matter is given the findings of the OCG probe, which is on the record of the parliament of Jamaica, it is Peter Bunting and Mark Golding who should immediately demit the post of Opposition Leader and Opposition Senate Leader.

"Bunting and Golding's current posture confirms they should never have been allowed near leadership positions which were assumed by virtue of them being members of a party which claims to take itself seriously but has become an organisation of gimmicks and expediency," she stated.

Golding had rejected the Contractor General's claim that aspects of two agreements between Dehring, Bunting and Golding and the then PNP Government were improper and irregular.