Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Speaker of the Jamaican House of Representatives, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, is facing pressure to keep her job, as the Integrity Commission has ruled that she should be charged for making a false statement in a statutory declaration in relation to a 2015 Mercedes Benz GLA 250 bought for J$6 million in 2015.

The charges concern her declarations from 2015 to 2020 in which she omitted to mention the ownership of the vehicle that she acquired using the government’s 20 per cent duty concession. Dalrymple-Philibert applied for the tax concession in her capacity as member of parliament for the purpose of buying the vehicle to be used in connection with her public duties.

In the meantime, the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has hinted that it will be unrelenting in its pursuits that the House Speaker step aside pending the outcome of the case and staged a walk-out of Parliament yesterday. This was done when Dalrymple-Philibert refused to entertain questions on the Integrity Commission’s report, which accused her of making false statutory declarations from 2015 to 2020.

Having tabled the report, the House Speaker referred it to two parliamentary committee, the oversight committee examining the Integrity Commission’s operations and the Ethics Committee, which she chairs. However, the PNP would have none of this, walking out when Dalrymple-Philibert did not entertain any questions on the matter and was supported in this stance by the overwhelming government majority in the lower House of Parliament.

Details of the Integrity Commission’s probe

During the course of the Integrity Commission’s investigation, it was revealed that Dalrymple-Phillibert acquired a 2015 Mercedes Benz GLA 250. However, after the vehicle’s absence from her statutory declarations was noted and questioned, the House Speaker wrote to the Integrity Commission denying ownership of the vehicle.

However, after being presented with a trove of documents and statements by others confirming her ownership of the luxury vehicle, Dalrymple-Phillibert relented and admitted that she did in fact own it. She is insistent that her failure to declare the car was a genuine lapse in memory.

On another matter, the commission has taken issue with the House Speaker’s use of the 20 per cent government duty concession to purchase the vehicle to be used in furtherance of her parliamentary duties, after finding that the vehicle was used almost exclusively by her sister. The commission argued that the car was never used by Dalrymple-Phillibert, despite her receiving a concession to use it for her official duties, declaring that this amounts to a breach of the Customs Act.

The IC’s Director of Investigations Kevon Stephenson has recommended that Prime Minister Andrew Holness take disciplinary and administrative actions against the House Speaker, in light of what he describes as the seriousness of her conduct.

Dalrymple-Phillibert pushing back

However, Dalrymple-Philibert later issued a detailed statement in which she insisted that the omission of the vehicle in her annual declaration is a “genuine oversight”. She reported that “the vehicle was purchased for $6 million and financed by a loan of J$5,800,000 from Sagicor Bank. The loan was taken out by Lincoln Eatmon, my sister’s spouse and a deposit of J$200,0000 was paid by both my husband and Mr Eatmon.”

Dalrymple-Philibert admitted that the vehicle was used primarily by her sister, her spouse and her sister’s son and occasionally by her whenever she was in Kingston, explaining, “This is due to the fact that my husband and I owned more than one motor vehicle, and, as a rural MP (member of parliament), I preferred driving an SUV because of the rough terrain that I am accustomed to traversing when in South Trelawny.”

She further explained that having acquired the vehicle on concession, there was a three-year restriction on her ability to sell or transfer the vehicle. “It, therefore, remained in her name and was never sold to anyone until over seven years later in May 2023,” the House Speaker declared.

She also highlighted that Sagicor Bank placed a lien on the title until the loan was repaid in 2022 – seven years later.

“Therefore, my ownership of the vehicle was a public record at the Tax Administration of Jamaica, the bank, the insurance company and the Motor Vehicle Examination Department. As stated earlier, the vehicle was primarily used by my sister and her family and at the time of filing my statutory declaration, I honestly forgot about the vehicle and did not include it among the list of other vehicles I declared,” Dalrymple-Philibert contended.

The House Speaker was quick to point out that the Integrity Commission’s report, specifically at 5.2.0 page 34, confirmed that she has always been compliant in the filing of my statutory declaration, “save and except for the omission of the vehicle, which, therefore, makes the declaration inaccurate and incomplete…I am, therefore, surprised at the conclusion reached by the Integrity Commission that I knowingly failed to declare the vehicle, which was acquired via a loan.”

As regards the IC’s recommendation at 5.3.6 on page 37 of that she resubmits a complete and accurate statutory declaration as required by law, the House Speaker promises to do so on Wednesday, September 20.

Dalrymple-Philibert has retained the services of high profile Kings Council Peter Champagnie to represent her interests in the matter.