JAMAICA’S former junior works minister, Joseph Hibbert, was yesterday named as one of a dozen politicians and officials who were allegedly paid kickbacks by the British firm Mabey and Johnson, after the firm pleaded guilty to systematically paying bribes for favours around the world.

The bridge-building firm was fined £6.6 million in a landmark ruling in court yesterday, following a probe by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

During the trial yesterday, Queen’s Counsel for the SFO, John Hardy, alleged that Hibbert collected £100,000 over an eight-year period for favours, including a contract valued at £14 million.

The alleged bribe was said to have been paid in the 1990s when Hibbert, an engineer, worked as chief technical director in the in the works ministry under the previous Government.

Yesterday, Hibbert’s lawyer, Ernest Smith, was adamant that his client was innocent and called on Mabey and Johnson to release the full details of their transactions with Jamaican officials.

“I am calling on Mabey and Johnson to tell us who are the Jamaican officials who collected $1.5 billion. Who are the Jamaican officials who got that money? Tell us who are the holders of the accounts to which these funds were lodged. My client got no money. If Mr Hibbert got that kind of money you think his mortgage payments would be in arrears?” Smith said.

The allegations against Hibbert surfaced in December last year, and after facing mounting criticism, the embattled politician resigned from his post as junior minister in the Ministry of Transport and Works in July.

Hibbert, however, held on to his job as member of Parliament for East Rural St Andrew. It was not clear yesterday if he would give up his seat in the legislature.

Last night, People’s National Party General Secretary Peter Bunting, while admitting that Hibbert was innocent until proven guilty, said the allegations against him were serious and would have a negative impact on his political career.

“Clearly these are very damaging allegations for Mr Hibbert and could very well undermine his position as member of Parliament. But as an individual he, like everyone else, should have his day in court and the right to defend the allegations,” Bunting told the Observer.

Officers from Jamaica’s Serious and Organised Crime Division earlier this year searched the homes of Hibbert and a businessman after naming them as persons of interest during a probe into the

bribery allegations.

Their homes were searched after officials from the SFO requested the assistance of local cops under the Mutual Assistance Act.

The police have since passed information to Contractor General Greg Christie, who is now conducting a probe into the allegations. The contractor general is expected to hand over the findings to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mabey and Johnson, which had entered into a plea bargain arrangement with the SFO, also named politicians and officials from Ghana, Madagascar, Bangladesh, Angola and Mozambique as persons who allegedly collected bribes for favours.

In total the firm admitted to paying out £1 million in bribes to get contracts valued between £60 million and £70 million.

Part of the fine levied against the firm will be paid out as reparations and fines to the governments whose officials were allegedly bribed.