KINGSTON, Jamaica —Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Caroline Hay who tended her resignation this week told the Jamaica Observer that the decision was tough but it was the right time to make the move.

“It was a very difficult decision to make but I think it’s the right time. I wish the office all the best for the future, particularly Ms Llewellyn,” Hay said. Paula Llewellyn is the Director of Public Prosecution.

Hay added that her time at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was “fruitful”.

“My time there was excellent. I have developed professionally far beyond what I thought I would have,” Hay said.

Hay’s resignation takes effect on January 31 next year and she will be joining a local law firm doing commercial litigation she told the Observer.

Hay, who is a well-respected prosecutor, was recently involved in the Trafigura hearing in the Supreme Court. 

In that matter Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, members of her Cabinet and the People’s National Party challenged the constitutionality of a court decision that they answer in court questions posed by Dutch authorities in relation to their probe into bribery allegations against the oil trading firm Trafigura Beheer.

Hay joined the ODPP’s Financial Crimes Unit in 2001 doing anti-money laundering work. When the unit (now the Financial Investigation Division) moved to the Finance Ministry in 2003, she stayed on at the DPP’s office as a Crown Counsel.

She quickly moved up the ranks and into her current position. She heads the office’s Mutual Legal Assistance and Financial Crimes Unit where she supervises 15 Crown Counsels and a para legal.

Hay graduated from law school in 1994 and worked for one year at Myers, Fletcher and Gordon. She went into private practice before joining the ODPP.