Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced the immediate resignation of Minister without portfolio Robert Montague in the wake of a damning report from the Integrity Commission which accused him of knowingly granting gun licences to persons with a criminal history while he was Jamaica’s national security minister.

In a terse statement tonight (March 11), Holness said: “Late this evening, I met with Minister Robert Montague who tendered his resignation with immediate effect.

“Minister Montague expressed that it was a privilege to have had the ‘opportunity to serve at the highest levels in government’.”

Montague’s resignation comes just months after he was stripped of the transport and mining portfolio in January over other allegations of impropriety.

He had served as national security minister from 2016 to 2018, during which time he was in charge of the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA).

The Integrity Commission’s 245-page special investigation report detailed how the FLA provided gun permits to persons convicted of, or charged with, various criminal offences involving drugs, lottery scamming, and illegal possession of firearms.

The report also made allegations around the actions of former National Security Minister Peter Bunting, who currently sits in Opposition, and former FLA deputy chair Dennis Meadows.