KINGSTON, Jamaica – Portland Western Member of Parliament, Daryl Vaz on Sunday night came to the defence of Prime Minister and JLP leader Andrew Holness, who has taken the Integrity Commission (IC) to court following the release of a investigation report.

“Dem bad mind him over likkle money,” said Vaz.

The report, which was made public in September, 2024 after a year-long probe, was inconclusive but the IC indicated it had trouble sorting out up to $470 million which was moved through several companies owned and or operated by Holness. It also found that he had 28 bank accounts and, despite the amount of money channeled through the various companies, had filed zero tax returns. The IC also confirmed that the prime minister was investigated for illicit enrichment, something he had denied knowledge of for months.

The matter was referred by the IC to the Financial Investigations Division and Tax Administration Jamaica for further probe, while Holness took the IC to court.

The decision to go to court saw certain revelations made public during a court hearing last week in which attorneys representing the prime minister failed in their bid to get the judge to block certain disclosures made by the commission. Some of that information was detailed in a newspaper report on Sunday. They include the fact that Holness had been under scrutiny by the IC from as far back as 2017, and that there were concerns among anticorruption authorities that his net worth had jumped from just $350,000 in 1998 to $160 million in 2019.

Vaz made his “likkle money” remark while addressing the JLP constituency conference for St Andrew East Rural where the sitting Member of Parliament is Juliet Holness, the prime minister’s wife.

“I had to come to support Juliet Holness, I had to come to bun some bad mind. I had to come because a going to give dem bus after bus, after bus, after bus,” said Vaz, who is the minister of transport.

He told the large crowd of party supporters not to get distracted by bad mind as he referenced the newspaper report. “I say to you, don’t get distracted when yuh see dem have headline inna newspaper about our party leader because it’s the same playbook in 2016 when dem bad mind him over him house. Now dem a bad mind him over likkle money. They’re wicked and evil and wi gwine deal wid dem come election whenever that date is announced”.

Meanwhile, Vaz, said despite the bad mind over the school buses, supposedly by the Opposition People’s National Party, starting Monday morning, the buses will be rolled out right across the country over the next four days on test runs. He said the 100 used buses which were purchased for the rural school bus programme, will be rolled out between September and December and will benefit 258 of 850 rural schools. A total of 122 routes will be covered.