LUCEA, Hanover — Former Mayor of Lucea Shernet Haughton pleaded not guilty to charges of misconduct in a public office and breaches of the public sector procurement regulations of 2008 when she appeared in the Hanover Parish Court yesterday.

The charges stem from a report by the Office of the Contractor General that was submitted to Parliament in March 2015.

The report accused her of nepotism and criminal offences in the Hanover Parish Council’s award of 22 contracts, with a cumulative value of $3.7 million, to her relatives and affiliates.

Haughton, a first-time councillor, resigned as mayor of Lucea in April 2014, but remains a People’s National Party councillor for the Green Island Division of the Hanover Parish Council.

Meanwhile, attorney-at-law Delford Morgan, who is representing Haughton, told the Jamaica Observer last night that his client will be fighting vigorously the charges that have been laid against her.

“She will be fighting robustly and vigorously the allegations made against her,” stated a strident Morgan.

“I expect that when she is vindicated the legislator or the executive will make the appropriate amendments to the existing regulations to prevent what has happened from recurring,” he added.

Haughton is scheduled to return to court on July 26.