Mitchell confident he can win Manchester Central for PNP DECLARING HIS intention to represent the People’s National Party (PNP) in the next general election, Mandeville Mayor Donovan Mitchell believes he can return the Manchester Central seat to the party’s winning column. On Sunday, Peter Bunting, who held the seat for three terms before losing to political neophyte Rhoda Crawford in 2020, confirmed at the Bellefield Divisional Conference that he would not be seeking re-election in the constituency. Crawford had secured 8,097 votes to Bunting’s 7,112. Fifth suspect charged in $8m HEART fraud case A KEY suspect in an $8-million fraud case at the HEART/NSTA Trust was on Tuesday nabbed by the police while attempting to board a flight at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston. The suspect, 36-year-old Ricardo Golden, was arrested and charged by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA). MOCA Director of Communi-cations Major Basil Jarrett, in a statement late Tuesday, said that Golden is now the fifth person to be charged in connection with the investigation, which began in 2018. The other persons charged to date are AnnaKay Phinn-Tyrell and her husband, Michael Tyrell, former employees at HEART/NSTA Trust, as well as Tasha Bucknor and Shamar Bell – all of whom are presently before the courts. The five are alleged to have been part of a conspiracy to fraudulently move money from the HEART/NSTATrust to the accounts of persons who were neither employees nor contracted workers of the entity. Prison hangs over Brady FCJ wants disbarred attorney locked up for $110m debt Livern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter THE STATE-OWNED Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) has filed an application in the Supreme Court to have disbarred attorney Harold Brady sent to prison for a debt that has ballooned to over $110 million. The application is scheduled to be heard on July 20, when a judge is expected to rule whether Brady should be imprisoned. There were no responses to questions emailed to Brady’s attorney, Jerome Spencer, lastWednesday seeking to ascertain whether he would challenge the application and, if so, the grounds on which he intends to rely. “I will respond after I receive instructions [from Brady],” Spencer said. The debt stems from the sale of an FCJ-owned property onMarcus Garvey Drive in the Corporate Area for $140 million, which was handled by Brady, according to a complaint the company filed with the General Legal Council (GLC) in 2015. The GLC regulates the legal profession in Jamaica. According to the complaint, he collected the full purchase price for the property but only accounted for $70 million despite “numerous requests” to hand over the funds. Further, the FCJ complained to the GLC that Brady’s failure to hand over the file relating to the transaction“with due expedition”and to register the sale agreement within 30 days caused the company to incur interest and penalties that pushed the debt to $111 million. After a hearing, the GLC found Brady guilty of professional misconduct and ordered that his name be struck from the list of attorneys authorised to practise in Jamaica and that he should pay FCJ $111 million with interest. Under Jamaican law, a judgment of the GLC can be enforced similarly to a judgment of the Supreme Court. The FCJ’s application to the Supreme Court last Thursday sought to enforce a previous order made by another High Court judge in 2019 that the disbarred attorney be committed to the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre for 30 days, attorneys for the FCJ told The Gleaner on Wednesday. That order was made after Brady failed tomake agreed $1 millionmonthly payments to the FCJ as ordered by the court, according to the attorneys. “The committal proceedings are an enforcement tool provided for in our law for somebody to essentially compel a judgment debtor to pay a debt. So this is what the FCJ is using to kind of force Mr Brady to pay the sums,” one of the attorneys told The Gleaner. $50B ‘DEAD LEF’ DISPUTE Chuck urges AGD to sell estates, distribute proceeds as lengthy wrangling causes depreciation Edmond Campbell/ Senior Parliamentary Reporter JUSTICE MINISTER Delroy Chuck is advising the Administrator General’s Department (AGD) to take steps to sell properties worth tens of billions of dollars tied up with the agency for years, owing to lingering disputes among beneficiaries. IN HIS contribution to the Sectoral Debate on Tuesday, Chuck revealed that up to the end of March this year, the AGD was managing more than $50 billion in properties that belonged to persons who died without making a will. Indicating that the prolonged management of the $50 billion in properties was not sustainable, Chuck said it placed a heavy burden on the AGD. The justice minister urged beneficiaries of these properties to settle their differences and end the protracted dispute over “dead lef”. “And what is important is for the administrator general to get the beneficiaries, using mediation, to agree as to how they will share the properties,” Chuck advised. He said that once the properties remain undistributed, they tend to deteriorate, and a significant amount of their value is lost as the resources are not readily available to maintain and improve them. In a follow-up interview with The Gleaner, Chuck revealed that one estate among the properties being managed by the AGD is valued at $800 million. He said the beneficiaries have not come to an agreement on how this property is to be shared. “If the beneficiaries in each estate agree as to how the estate should be shared, then there is no problem; you just distribute it. But especially with an estate that has real property, my instruction is rather than allowing the real estate to deteriorate, sell the real estate, collect the funds and then distribute it at the end of the day,” he insisted. He said that the administrator and executor have total control over how to determine how properties are sold or exchanged. 7 [ NEWSYOU MAY HAVE MISSED ] Delroy Chuck, justice minister. FILE JAMAICANS IN the diaspora will be able to pre-enrol online for the National Identification System (NIDS), but they will be required to visit an enrolment centre in Jamaica to provide their biometric information. The NIDS pre-enrolment software will allow citizens to log their information into the NIDS database and make an appointment to visit the enrolment site. “For my diaspora family … you can apply for NIDS. You will have to travel to Jamaica to get your picture taken and to give your fingerprints, but what you will be able to do is to pre-enrol, get an appointment date, align that appointment date with your trip, and come in and get it done,” said Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Floyd Green. He was responding to questions from callers during the Nationwide News Network (NNN) radio programme ‘Ask the Minister’ on Tuesday, May 2. He noted that persons who are ordinarily resident in Jamaica, that is, persons who have lived in Jamaica continuously for six months or more, are also eligible for the NIDS. “It doesn’t matter where you live. Once you are a citizen of Jamaica, you qualify for the National Identification System,” he pointed out. Persons must also submit supporting documents such as birth certificate, proof of address or marriage certificate. A reference number will be given for the applicant to track the application online. Once the verification is done, a notification will be sent to the applicant to collect, pin, and activate the national ID card that will be issued. For pre-enrolment and other information, persons can visit https://www. nidsfacts.com. Jamaicans in diaspora can pre-enrol for NIDS repeatedly to be taken to the doctor after she, too, injured her knee while picking strawberries. She said that she was eventually taken to the doctor and underwent 10 sessions of physiotherapy after it was discovered that her kneecap had shifted. “Liaison officers, no matter how much they come to you first and you tell them how you feel, they always take the boss’ side. Themnuh give you encouragement. Them just tell you [to] follow what them say,” she said. Efforts by The Gleaner to reach Chief Liaison Officer Kenneth Phillips for comment on the allegations were unsuccessful. The Gleaner was told that Phillips was in a meeting last Thursday. On Saturday, liaison officer Althea Riley, who shares a telephone number with Phillips, said that they were not in a position to comment. She referred The Gleaner to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for a response. Of the overall 442 farmworkers surveyed, 55 per cent said that they were satisfied with the liaison service. Still, the majority of farmworkers in British Columbia (50.9 per cent), New Brunswick (56.3 per cent), Newfoundland and Labrador (100 per cent), and Nova Scotia (53.8 per cent) were not satisfied with the liaison service. NOT SATISFIED Forty-three per cent of workers in Ontario, which has the largest number of Jamaican farmworkers, said that they were not satisfied while 57 per cent said they were. Labour Minister Karl Samuda told Parliament on Tuesday that the Jamaican Liaison Service must address the weaknesses reported by farmworkers. “We are, through the ministry, dealing with it and will be making changes where necessary andmaking new additions,” he said. Attempts by The Gleaner to speak with Samuda about the findings were unsuccessful. Calls to his cell phone went unanswered. He did not respond to aWhatsApp message sent on Friday. The ministry’s oversight committee, meanwhile, said it recommended that the liaison service be “reorganised” because since its establishment in 1966, there has been no review of its structure. It said in this regard, a staffing structure has been prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service. The committee said efforts are under way to have the Jamaica Liaison Service established as part of Jamaica’s Foreign Mission in Canada. It said on the matter of allegations and complaints made by various advocacy groups, the liaison service conducts investigations when reports are made directly. “Where the complaints are validated, recommendations may be made to remove the offending farm from among the list of approved farms in the programme. kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com FARMERS Continued from, P3 THE MONTHLY GLEANER | MAY 4 - JUNE 7, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS
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