Gov't actions placing Jamaica's global credibility at risk - Brown Burke

 

Opposition spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Dr. Angela Brown Burke, has warned that the government is plunging the country into a financial and diplomatic crisis.

 

Dr. Brown Burke says the administration's approach to transparency, accountability and institutional integrity is raising serious concerns. 

 

Citing the recent appointment of Dennis Chung to lead the Financial Investigations Division, as well as breaches of the Companies Act, Dr. Brown Burke accused the government of placing the country's global credibility at risk and undermining critical anti-corruption safeguards.

 

"A sitting government MP was complicit in breaching the 2023 amendment to the Companies Act, which mandates the disclosure of ultimate beneficial owners to the Companies Office. The amendment is in fact a vital step to ensure Jamaica's compliance with international anti-money laundering standards. The concealment or misrepresentation of beneficial ownership is exactly the type of activity that global watchdogs like FATF (Financial Action Task Force) are aggressively targeting. But if that wasn't enough, we have learnt as well that government has compounded this breach of good governance by appointing someone who is both unqualified and tainted with implicit bias to head the Financial Investigations Division," she suggested.

 

Dr. Brown Burke called for a full and transparent investigation into the MP's breach of the Companies Act and the immediate reversal of the appointment of Mr. Chung to the FID.