By Kimone Witter
The Integrity Commission has welcomed the withdrawal of the case that was brought against it by Norman Brown, a business partner of Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness, although noting that it believes the case would ultimately have been unsuccessful.
In a media release Tuesday, the Integrity Commission said Mr. Brown's decision will avoid it incurring costs and expending resources to defend the claim.
On January 14, the Supreme Court granted Mr. Brown, who is chairman of the Urban Development Commission (UDC) and the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), permission to apply for judicial review against the decision of the Integrity Commission's Director of Investigation in an Investigation Report into the prime minister's statutory declarations.
In the August 30, 2024 report, the Director of Investigations raised concern about the tax filings of Estatebridge Development Limited, a company in which Mr. Brown is a shareholder.
The report highlighted Estatebridge's interest income in 2021 and its nil tax returns, which were referred to Tax Administration Jamaica.
The permission to apply for judicial review was granted after the Commission had successfully opposed Mr. Brown's application for permission to bring a judicial review claim against expressions in the Investigation Report of conflict-of-interest concerns in respect of his personal and business relationship with Dr. Holness.
The Commission had also successfully opposed the part of Mr. Brown's application for various declarations and a mandatory injunction to compel the Commission to amend the Investigation Report to remove all adverse findings made in relation to him.
Last Wednesday, on the final day for filing the claim, Mr. Brown's attorneys formally informed the Supreme Court that their client did not intend to pursue the matter.
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