The Integrity Commission on Wednesday tabled a report in Parliament based on its investigation into allegations that then Minister of Agriculture, Karl Samuda, allowed the Jamaica Dairy Development Board to cultivate Mombasa grass on his property in April
The Integrity Commission has recommended that Prime Minister Andrew Holness instruct his ministers to desist from accepting personal benefits from government programmes.
The Commission on Wednesday tabled a report in Parliament based on its investigation into allegations that then Minister of Agriculture, Karl Samuda, allowed the Jamaica Dairy Development Board to cultivate Mombasa grass on his property in April 2017.
Though it acknowledged that Mr. Samuda's actions did not rise to the level of criminality, the Integrity Commission said his acceptance of the benefit was "ethically reprehensible".
The Commission has asked Prime Minister Holness and House Speaker Marisa Dalrymple Philibert to take action to acknowledge the conflict of interest and assure the public that Mr. Samuda's conduct is unacceptable.
In its report, dated June 2022, the Integrity Commission also recommended the introduction of legislation which prohibits the acceptance of benefits from resources over which a Minister of Government or other public official has responsibility.
'Stale news'
But Minister Karl Samuda has ridiculed the Integrity Commission report, describing it as "stale news".
In an interview with The Gleaner on Wednesday, Mr. Samuda said at the time of the Mombasa grass issue in 2017, he made a fulsome report to Parliament, supported by documentary evidence.
He further claimed that the Commission's report, published five years after the incident, was "full of falsehoods and redundant".
The Jamaica Dairy Development Board cultivated 14.2 acres of Mombasa grass on Mr. Samuda's property, located in Knollis, St. Catherine, under its Forage Intervention Programme.
Speaking in Parliament in May 2017, Mr. Samuda disclosed that he had paid $546,000 to the Dairy Board for the cultivation of the grass.
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