THE refusal of the finance minister, Dr Omar Davies, to sanction payments of millions of dollars being claimed by his former campaign manager, Keith Senior, is at the centre of the falling-out between the two long-time friends.

Senior, who resigned in June this year as campaign manager and member of the executive of Davies’ South St Andrew constituency, is also refusing to honour a $7-million tax assessment, until he is paid $150 million in consultancy fees he said he earned from doing work for the Jamaican Government.

The dispute also involves former Air Jamaica chairman, Dr Vin Lawrence, who reportedly dismissed the claims as excessive, after which Senior appealed unsuccessfully to the finance minister to intervene.

“I’m in imminent personal danger because of all these things hanging over my head,” Senior, a corporate financial consultant, told the Sunday Observer.

“At this stage, I’m quite willing to go to prison and to go on hunger strike if necessary,” Senior said, dramatising his determination not to pay the claim on him by the Tax Assessment and Administration Department for unpaid tax on earnings.

Contacted by the Sunday Observer, Dr Davies said he had advised Senior to submit his claims to the now retired financial secretary, Shirley Tyndall, with the requisite verification of the figures. That had not been done, he said.

The minister also acknowledged that Senior had sought his intervention with the tax office, but said that was something he was not prepared to do.

“The one thing I have is my credibility. I don’t interfere with the tax processes at all, regardless of who is involved,” he added.

Dr Lawrence could not be contacted by the newspaper as he was said to be off the island up to last night.

Senior’s claims on the government relate to consultancy work he said he did at the time Air Jamaica was being privatised in 1994. He was a key figure in the negotiations, saying he saved the government millions of dollars.

Senior said that Dr Lawrence, then chairman of the privatisation sub-committee of the state-run National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ), had supervised the project.

“The final figures were not arrived at until 2002, because it involved the disputed pension scheme which was not paid out until that year,” said Senior.

Majority stake in the national airline was bought by the Air Jamaica Acquisition Group (AJAG) led by hotel mogul Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart and the National Commercial Bank. Stewart relinquished his ownership in the airline in 2004, saying he was tired of the political shenanigans.

Senior said that he did further consultancy work as the lead consultant on the negotiations leading to a settlement of the Air Jamaica Pensions dispute, which went all the way to the United Kingdom-based Privy council.

“I saved the Government almost a billion dollars because I detected a serious error in the calculations done by the Privy Council,” Senior insisted.

He told the Sunday Observer that after Dr Lawrence declined to honour his claims, he wrote to Dr Davies, seeking his intervention in April 2007.

“Dr Lawrence has not responded to me, but he has responded to the minister. Neither has Dr Davies responded to me,” he noted. “That is when I resigned as campaign manager and constituency executive member in June.”

Senior alleged that the tax assessment, which was dated June 23, 2007, came after he had resigned and he saw a connection in the two events. The August 3, 2007 deadline for payment passed without Senior paying.

“I have five persons submitting affidavit showing that I had done the work for which I claimed. I will pay the tax out of my consultancy fees when I get paid,” he declared.

Confirming his awareness of Senior’s claims, Dr Davies said he had informed the consultant that “as minister I do not authorise payments”.

The minister also refuted Senior’s suggestions that the tax assessment was linked to his resignation from the constituency executive.

“Some years ago, he (Senior) told me that he had received a tax assessment. What he might have received on June 23 was an updated assessment with the additional interest charges. And even that I did not know about.”

Davies said he was also aware that Lawrence had objected to Senior submitting payment claims, as he was a member of the Air Jamaica Board at the time.

“Dr Lawrence set the example himself by not accepting payment for his work as chairman of the board,” said Davies.