WESTERN BUREAU — An investigation into allegations that councillors have illegally leased lands owned by the St James Parish Council isexpected to be completed by next Friday.

According to secretary/manager Christopher Powell, he ordered an in-depth probe into the incident on May 25.

“It’s a very strong allegation that was made. If it is so, it is illegal, that is why I am now conducting that investigation,” Powell said Wednesday.

The probe was launched in response to an article carried in the May 23 edition of the Observer in which Jamaica Labour Party candidate for West Central St James, Clive Mullings charged that councillors had leased council-owned land in the Bogue area of Montego Bay.

Mullings, an attorney who will be challenging Montego Bay mayor Hugh Solomon in the upcoming general election, had called for any such lease arrangements between elected representatives and the Council to be made public.

Mullings, in a statement, had said that any such “incestuous” transaction that had been negotiated without public notification of tender and/or the obtaining of the requisite exemption would “smack of corruption”.

“I want to establish if there are any councillors who have entered into lease agreements with themselves for the lease of land,” Mullings said. “If that is the case, it ought not to be, because a conflict of interest would arise… and that, as a principle, is unacceptable.”

However, Mayor Solomon, in an interview with the Observer, denied that he had leased any council-owned lands and also denied any knowledge of any such activity by any of his colleagues. He, however, promised that if investigations revealed that such breaches had in fact occurred, it would be Powell’s responsibility to make them public.

On Wednesday Powell, who is about a year into his stint as secretary/manager, said he was still in the process of acquainting himself with all the council’s property and had therefore asked superintendent of roads and works, Tubal Brown to investigate the allegations.

He added that once Brown has handed in his report, it would be taken before an executive committee, which would then decide on the way forward.

“The mayor has already committed himself to saying it will be made public so the executive committee will then tell me. If they say I should make it public, I will make the findings public,” Powell said.

And while he stressed that he has no indication of what the findings would be, Powell said if the allegations proved to be true, he would have to consult the Ministry of Local Government for direction on how to proceed.

“I have checked around and there hasn’t been a precedent set in any other councils, so we would be in uncharted territory,” he said. “We would have to get the Ministry of Local Government and the minister (Arnold Bertram) involved because they are the overseeing body. But that is kind of putting the cart before the horse (because the investigation is still ongoing).”