THURSDAY’S declaration by Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith that allegations in a pending court matter of improper treatment of a US$99,000 gift towards her 2022 Caricom secretary general bid are ” baseless, untrue and defamatory” have been snubbed by attorney Sophia Bryan.

“The easiest defence to defamation is the truth,” Bryan, who is representing Jamaican-American Wilfred Rattigan who is seeking to haul the foreign affairs minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the finance ministry before the courts in the quest for answers, told the Jamaica Observer Thursday.

In the matter, which has garnered much media attention, Rattigan, in a claim filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of himself and Jamaicans here and in the Diaspora, charged that Johnson Smith and the foreign affairs ministry failed to comply with the statutory and administrative regulations under the Financial Administration and Audit Act (FAA) with respect to a US$99,000 donation/gift by “corporate Jamaica”.

American firm Finn Partners had been contracted by local private entities to provide public relations, media relations, and thought leadership services for Jamaica’s candidature for the Commonwealth secretary general post. The contest took place during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Kigali, Rwanda, from June 20 to 25, 2022.

According to the suit, “it is abundantly clear that the monies paid to Finn Partners Inc for its PR efforts in support of the first respondent’s aforementioned campaign was a gift/donation and is therefore governed by the requirements of the FAA guidelines for the acceptance of gifts and donations in kind, and the Ministry of Finance and Planning’s guidelines for the acceptance of and accounting for gifts to the Government”.

Rattigan, in the claim, is charging that the finance ministry, which is also named in the suit, failed to take appropriate action to compel Johnson Smith and the ministry to comply with the applicable statutory and administrative regulations.

He further contends that Johnson Smith “failed to file a disclosure with the Integrity Commission regarding the donation she received that did not fall within the filing exceptions”. Rattigan is charging that as a beneficiary of a US$99,000 gift/donation from corporate Jamaica, Johnson Smith “should have declared this sum to the Tax Administration of Jamaica and paid appropriate taxes thereon”.

Rattigan is also seeking a declaration by the court that Johnson Smith and the Government failed to fulfil requirements of FAA Act and that she was obligated to report the income to the Tax Administration of Jamaica. He is also seeking to have the legal and administrative costs of $350,000 to bring the suit covered by Johnson Smith and the Government.

Thursday, the foreign affairs minister, in a swift response via her social media pages, said, “I am aware of social media posts purporting to share a claim form in which I am named as a respondent. I am not aware of any such suit being filed or served. The allegations are in any event baseless, untrue and defamatory. I remind that defamation, even in social media can result in suits”.

Bryan, however, said there was no mischief or mystery in the minister’s ignorance about the existence of the claim.

“A claim has been filed. It’s for administrative orders. Under Jamaican law if somebody has a challenge or if they want to approach the Government as it relates to an obligation that they have, it can be done through an administrative order or a judicial review. Under these particular circumstances, it is to get information about how a particular gift was treated with,” Bryan explained.

“These types of applications, that is, administrative orders or judicial reviews can be done with, or without notice to the other parties. Under these circumstances, we opted to give notice, and so in order to give notice, the court has to give us an official date for the hearing in order for us to do that. There is a four-week window for the court to provide us with a date and/or their position on the matter, and within that time period we will know the outcome,” she told the Observer.