Anthony Hylton under more fire as Krauck dream fizzles

The Opposition says Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister, Anthony Hylton, should be fired over what it calls his embarrassing handling of a proposed US$5 billion logistics hub investment.

Today, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) informed that negotiations with the proposed investors, Krauck Group, have been halted because the company has not submitted enough due diligence information.

The Opposition Spokesperson on Industry, Karl Samuda, says the latest developments are not surprising and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller should fire Hylton over his handling of the matter.

In April, following public outcry for more details surrounding his announcement of the initiative, Hylton, declared in an interview on Power 106FM that the process would not end up like last year’s botched attempt to build a major energy plant.

Two months later the Cabinet has now decided that Jamaica will halt negotiations with the Krauck Group.

The decision follows the third attempt to get information from the company bidding to undertake one of the largest investments in Jamaica.

The Opposition Spokesperson on Industry says the decision supports the Opposition’s stance that Hylton should not have signed an MoU with the investors before all the due diligence was completed.

Meanwhile, Samuda says the Opposition does not agree with the Cabinet advising Hylton’s ministry that it may continue discussions with the Krauck Group.

It’s understood that representatives of Hylton’s ministry on the National Logistics Initiative Council disagreed with the assessment of the information submitted by the investors.

They reportedly argued, among other things, that the Council should have given more consideration to banking information.