Fritz Pinnock resigns from CMU

Professor Fritz Pinnock, who is battling criminal charges, resigned two months ago as president of the government-owned Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), but there has been no disclosure of whether there was a financial settlement.

The separation was confirmed by chairman of the CMU Council, Professor Gordon Shirley, and interim president, Professor Evan Duggan.

“In keeping with the terms of his contract of employment, Professor (Pinnock) tendered his resignation as president of CMU effective February 18,” Shirley said in response to queries from The Gleaner.

Pinnock did not entertain questions from The Gleaner on Tuesday, as a telephone call to him ended abruptly over queries regarding his status. Subsequent calls were not answered.

Pinnock, former Jamaica College principal and Education Minister Ruel Reid, his wife Sharen, their daughter Sharelle, and Jamaica Labour Party Councillor Kim Lawrence were arrested in simultaneous early-morning security operations in 2019.

They are facing multiple fraud and corruption charges as well as breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act.

There was no response from Shirley regarding the terms of Pinnock’s separation, and none as to whether the university is seeking a new head.

Up to September last year, Pinnock’s pre-tax earnings were reportedly around $564,000 monthly, or $6.8 million annually.

Duggan, an international scholar, was appointed interim executive head of the fledgling university in June 2020 as the scandal rocked the institution.

Pinnock initially went on voluntary leave in July 2019 to facilitate the investigations of CMU by the state’s anti-corruption agencies, including the Auditor General’s Department.

The auditor general’s probe uncovered serious governance issues and financial irregularities. It also found that the CMU had 21 bank accounts, some of which were not being properly administered.

The report revealed several shocking findings, including CMU’s questionable reimbursement of US$10,000 in 2016 for Pinnock’s travels to collect the International Socrates Award, which the British press had alleged was a “made-up honour”.

Pinnock was also repaid US$12,697.41 for a bracelet, two sunglasses, perfumes, Baileys rum cream, a cuff link, four colognes, an Apple watch, a MacBook, and a cell phone.

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis also said that CMU failed to provide auditors from her department with supporting documentation to substantiate 14 reimbursements to the president amounting to US$117,785.03 from the institution’s US-dollar account and J$2,229,362.21 from a canteen account, during the period December 2016 to March 2019.

Pinnock’s separation in February this year came months after Reid resigned as principal of Jamaica College after a $23-million settlement, which has caused a rift with alumni and others aligned with the Old Hope Road-based high school.

Last year, the Court of Appeal denied both Reid and Pinnock leave to challenge their arrest before the UK-based Privy Council, Jamaica’s final appellate court.

Hugh Wildman, the attorney representing both men, argued that the Financial Investigations Division (FID) had no power to arrest the men.

Wildman has also challenged a ruling by Chief Parish Court Judge Chester Crooks, who attended Munro College while Reid was head boy.

He said Crooks should have recused himself from the matter.

Meanwhile, it is unclear if Duggan, who took the reins of the institution on June 1, 2020, will continue in the post after his two-year term ends.

Duggan, who was tasked by the Shirley-led board with cleaning up the university, said he welcomed the challenge to pull the institution from financial and administrative free fall.

“I have never run from a challenge,” Duggan said a month before he took up the position.

CMU came into the spotlight in March 2019 when Reid, then education minister and an ally of the prime minister, quit the Andrew Holness Cabinet.

Dr Grace McLean, chief education officer in the education ministry and a former acting permanent secretary who has been criticised for her oversight of CMU, was in January barred from returning to work until the financial secretary decides whether she will have to pay back some of the $124 million the ministry allegedly could not account for in a related scandal.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com