KINGSTON, Jamaica— People’s National Party (PNP) spokesperson on transport, works and housing, Mikael Phillips, has called on the Minister of Transport and Mining, Robert Montague, to immediately remove the Chairman of The Board of Directors of the Airports Authority of Jamaica, Fay Hutchinson, from office.

In a statement today, Phillips said he has waited for days following the Minister of Finance’s confirmation to Parliament that the Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act was breached in the investment by the AAJ and its subsidiary of $443 million in First Rock Capital Holdings, a year before the company was listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and without the approval of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

”At the same time, Hutchinson was an investor in First Rock and subsequently appointed a member of its Board of Directors,” the statement said.

He said the Minister of Transport has remained silent during this period of time while more damning information continues to be disclosed in the public media on a daily basis.

“This state of affairs is unsatisfactory and contemptuous of the Jamaican taxpayers and their hard-earned money,” he added.

The spokesman said the chairman’s failure to disclose her interest in First Rock at the time of the investment was ”unforgiveable and smacked of conflict of interest and an abuse of office for which she must take full responsibility.”

”The country could not retain confidence in Mrs Hutchinson’s continued chairing of the Authority and oversight of its financial affairs after this major breach of her fiduciary responsibilities,” Phillips said.

He added that the minister’s instruction that the chairman resign as a director of First Rock does not cure the breaches and failures and he should have instructed her to resign from the AAJ Board.

Phillips proposed that the relevant investigatory bodies, including the National Integrity Commission, the Financial Investigation Division and Financial Service Commission, should probe the transactions to determine which other laws were broken, who is responsible for the breaches and what sanctions will be imposed.  

Phillips said he also planned to raise the issue in the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC).