Multimillion-dollar CMU payout for Pinnock

The Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) paid its former president Professor Fritz Pinnock close to $15 million, before deductions, as part of a separation package when he resigned in February, Gleaner sources have indicated.

Pinnock’s contract would have ended in June 2023, but he tendered his resignation on February 18 of this year.

Pinnock, along with former Education Minister Ruel Reid, is facing fraud and corruption charges.

Minister of Education Fayval Williams said that the university did not divert from the process in settling the matter of the embattled professor’s departure when quizzed by The Gleaner.

“Whatever calculations that were to be done with regard to remaining time and contract, those were accurately calculated, and I think we have come to the end of the era that included the past president,” Williams indicated in a May interview.

“As I understand it, in that contract, there was a clause in it that said each side had to give six months’ notice, meaning if the CMU wanted to end the contract, they would have to give six months’ notice, and vice versa. The terms were adhered to in that contract to end the relationship,” she added.

The university has refused to disclose the details of the package and has denied The Gleaner access to documents under the 2002 Access to Information Act.

“After careful consideration of the relevant provisions of the ATIA and its exemptions re the disclosure of information, unfortunately we are unable to provide the information that you have requested,” the CMU said in a September 9 response to The Gleaner.

The university did not indicate which clause under the legislation allowed for the exemption.

Section 5 of the act stipulates that “the response of the public authority shall state its decision on the application, and where the authority or body decides to refuse or defer access or to extend the period of 30 days, it shall state the reasons, therefore, and the options available to an aggrieved applicant”.

Pinnock’s attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman declined to comment on the matter when contacted by The Gleaner on Tuesday, noting that he was not aware of the details of his departure from the university.

Pinnock went on voluntary leave in July 2019 from the State-run institution amid a corruption probe after police investigators asserted that nearly $50 million of public funds was diverted to the personal use of the former CMU president and Reid through a number of schemes.

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