JFJ joins call for Wheatley's immediate removal from Cabinet after IC corruption charges
Mentioned
Analysis
This is a substantive news article reporting on serious corruption charges recommended by Jamaica's Integrity Commission against a Cabinet minister, Dr. Andrew Wheatley, including illicit enrichment of J$164 million and false statutory declarations. The article documents official accountability proceedings and calls for ministerial removal.
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Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) Executive Director Mickel Jackson is calling for the immediate removal of Dr Andrew Wheatley as a Cabinet minister pending the outcome of criminal charges recommended against him by the Integrity Commission.
"Minister Andrew Wheatley is facing serious corruption charges, including illicit enrichment of some J$164 million. He has asserted his innocence. Notwithstanding, he should be immediately removed from Cabinet pending the outcome of the case," Jackson said in a post on social media site X on Wednesday.
The call follows a position taken the same day by Opposition Leader Mark Golding, who issued a formal statement demanding Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness act without hesitation to remove Wheatley.
"The minister who has been recommended for prosecution on four criminal charges, including the serious offence of illicit enrichment, cannot be allowed to remain in the Cabinet of Jamaica," Golding said.
In a report published in Parliament yesterday, the Integrity Commission's Director of Corruption Prosecution ruled that Wheatley is to be charged with illicit enrichment, two counts of knowingly making false statements in statutory declarations covering 2013 to 2017 and 2018 to 2022, and failing to provide information requested by investigators.
The charges follow a probe by Director of Investigation Kevon Stephenson, which found Wheatley allegedly acquired assets disproportionate to his lawful earnings by approximately $164 million between 2013 and 2022, and that he failed to provide a satisfactory explanation when required to do so.
Wheatley has rejected the findings as "patently false, grossly misleading and inaccurate" and has vowed to contest the recommended charges in court.
He said the Director of Investigation failed to account for approximately $168 million in rental income he lawfully accumulated over the relevant period, as well as roughly $50 million in loan repayments tied to his real estate business.
Jackson suggested her call was consistent with her call in April for Opposition lawmaker Dennis Gordon of to recuse himself from the Public Accounts Committee over the Auditor General's findings regarding misuse of tax exemptions at the University Hospital of the West Indies that benefited his company, JACDEN Limited.
Gordon, the member of Parliament for St Andrew East Central, stepped down from the committee, which probed an auditor general report that exposed procurement failings at the hospital.
Wheatley, the Member of Parliament for St Catherine South Central, is a senior politician from the governing Jamaica Labour Party who serves as Minister Without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, responsible for science, technology and special projects.
He previously served as Minister of Science, Technology and Mining but resigned in July 2018 amid controversies and investigations concerning the operations of the state-owned oil refinery, Petrojam.
Holness reappointed Wheatley to the Cabinet following the September 2025 general election.
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