Phillips’ worth - Opposition leader and family declare $185m in assets, income for 2018
Published:Saturday | July 20, 2019 | 12:00 AMRomario Scott/Gleaner Writer
The Gleaner has obtained documents giving, for the first time this year, a peek into the financial affairs of Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips and his family.
While the declarations of the prime minister and leader of the opposition by law should be gazetted, checks done by The Gleaner up to press time yesterday revealed that Phillips’ was the only one available at the government’s printing offices.
National Integrity Action (NIA) head Professor Trevor Munroe has been calling for both declarations to be gazetted.
“NIA insists that the summary of the statutory declarations of both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition must be immediately gazetted by the Integrity Commission as required by law,” Munroe said as he addressed the annual general meeting of the Manchester Chapter of the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica on Wednesday.
“Since the declarations cannot be published unless they are cleared, unless they are properly certified, then let us be assured when they are published that that certification has taken place. If both are published, wonderful. Our two leaders are in compliance ... . If only one is in compliance, publish that one and let us know when the other will be published,” the NIA executive director added.
Phillips is married to Sandra Minott-Phillips of the law firm Myers, Fletcher & Gordon and has four sons, Mikael (a member of parliament), David, Luke, and Jacob. Their professions could not be ascertained by The Gleaner. He also has two daughters, Tsahai and Ruth, whose professions also could not be ascertained.
However, according to the document, said to be a summary of Phillips’ declaration to the Integrity Commission as at December 31, 2018 – which The Gleaner obtained from the Jamaica Printing Services Ltd – the family declared assets and income totalling roughly $185 million last year.
The family had assets valuing more than $60 million and no liabilities and personal debt denominated in Jamaican dollars.
There was $819,550.08 reported to be in the savings account of the family and $770,074.37 in the current account. Some $26,385,315.83 was declared as being held in securities and $3.6 million in real estate.
Phillips reported to the Integrity Commission that his family had motor vehicle assets of $28,731,018.00. There was a figure of $169,948.92 under the heading of ‘Other Personal Property’.
The family raked in salary of $16,464,652.96 with another $37,337,760.00 listed as ‘other income’, bringing the total close to $54 million for 2018.
Of the nearly $16.5 million the family earned in income last year, Phillips’ salary alone was at least $7 million because of his job as opposition leader. That figure includes travel allowance of a little over $1.2 million, a basic pay of $5.6 million, housing, and other subsistence allowance.
In addition, Phillips declared US$561,539.30 in assets. That’s roughly J$75 million.
Munroe has also taken issue with the Integrity Commission not publicly disclosing the names of politicians who are under investigation and in breach of the Integrity Commission Act in its latest annual report tabled in Parliament last week.
“With the new Integrity Commission Act, two MPs (members of parliament) are reportedly being investigated for breaches. We are now not even told their names. This is a step backwards, which must be corrected,” he said.
$J DECLARATIONS
Income
Salary $16,464,652.96
Realty Income $0.00
Security Income $0.00
Other income $37,337,760.00
Assets
Savings $819,550.08
Current Account $770,074.37
Securities $26,385,315.83
Real Estate $3,600,000.00
Other Personal Property $169,948.92
Real Estate Mortgages, Receivables, and Business Investments $0.00
Account Receivables $0.00
Automobiles $28,731,018.00
Cash Value of Life $0.00
Liabilities
Real Estate Mortgages $0.00
Notes Payable (Secured) $0.00
Notes Payable (Unsecured) $0.00
Other Accounts Payable $0.00
Total Income: $53,802,412.96
Total Assets: $60,475,907.20
US$ DECLARATIONS
Income
Salary US$0.00
Realty Income US$0.00
Security Income US$0.00
Other income US$0.00
Assets
Savings US$39,954.72
Current Account US$0.00
Securities US$501,901.49
Real Estate US$0.00
Other Personal Property US$0.00
Real Estate Mortgages, Receivables, and Business Investments US$0.00
Account Receivables US$0.00
Automobiles US$0.00
Cash Value of Life US$19,683.09
Liabilities
Real Estate Mortgages US$0.00
Notes Payable (Secured) US$0.00
Notes Payable (Unsecured) US$0.00
Other Accounts Payable US$0.00
Total Income: US$0.00
Total Assets: US$561,539.30