Amid swirling allegations that former National Security Minister Peter Bunting played a role in the 2019 revocation of Government Minister Daryl Vaz’s United States visa, Bunting has issued a statement categorically denying all related accusations.

In a statement released late Monday (September 27), the now senator argued that “the issue of the revocation of visas falls solely within the purview of the United States government”.

Given this, Bunting stated: “I categorically deny all accusations regarding my role as Minister of National Security in the revocation of Minister Daryl Vaz’s visa by the United States.”

He further declared that all meetings had with the US Embassy in his role as national security minister were “official engagements, and concerned solely with issues of national security and the safety of the Jamaican public”.

“None of these meetings were used to pursue any other matters,” added Bunting.

Noting that he has chosen not to engage publicly on the issue, so as not to risk the trust and confidentiality shared between representatives of government, the senator called for Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson, “to use their respective offices to engage directly with the US State Department on the issue of the visa revocation, so that there can be a final resolution of the matters raised in the public domain”.

After having his US visa revoked two years ago, Vaz on Friday (September 24) received a one-year multiple-entry B1/B2 visitor’s visa with a rare waiver.

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