Phillips calls for removal of AAJ’s chairman following $443-million law breach

3 years ago

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Opposition spokesman on Transport Mikael Phillips is calling on Minister of Transport and Mining, Robert Montague to remove Fay Hutchinson as chairman of the board of the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ).

He made the call this afternoon in a statement sent to the media.

Phillips said he has waited for days following the Minister of Finance’s confirmation to Parliament that the Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act was breached in the investment by the AAJ and its subsidiary of $443 million in First Rock Capital Holdings, a year before the company was listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

He said that this was done without the approval of the Ministry of Finance.

Hutchinson, he pointed out, was also an investor in First Rock and subsequently appointed a member of its board.

He said that Montague has remained silent, though “damning information” continues to be disclosed in the public media daily.

“This state of affairs is unsatisfactory and contemptuous of the Jamaican taxpayers and their hard-earned money,” Phillips said.

The Opposition spokesman said the chairman’s failure to disclose her interest in First Rock at the time of the investment was “unforgivable and smacked of conflict of interest and an abuse of office” for which she must take full responsibility.

He said the country could not retain confidence in Hutchinson’s continued chairing of the AAJ and oversight of its financial affairs after this major breach of her fiduciary responsibilities.

Phillips added further, that Montague’s instruction that the chairman resigns as a director of First Rock does not cure the breaches and failures and argued that he should have instructed her to resign from the AAJ Board.

He further proposed that the relevant investigatory bodies, including the National Integrity Commission, the Financial Investigation Division and Financial Service Commission, probe the transactions to determine “which other laws were broken, who is responsible for the breaches and what sanctions will be imposed”.

He said, too, that the matter will be raised in the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC).