CMU Council Chairman Hyacinth Bennett resigns
Published:Monday | January 20, 2020 | 12:00 AM
Council chairperson of the scandal-hit Caribbean Maritime University Hyacinth Bennett has resigned.
The council is the body that presides over the affairs of the university.
The development follows a stinging special audit report by the Auditor General's Department detailing flagrant procedural breaches and mismanagement at the CMU.
According to the insiders, as many as four members of the council have resigned in recent days, three of them indicating, last Friday, their plans to step down.
Minister with responsibility for Education Karl Samuda confirmed that Bennett stepped down when contacted by The Gleaner this afternoon.
Samuda, who is the Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives, said that he will be making a statement on the matter in parliament tomorrow.
The Gleaner first reported that the special audit report uncovered a trail of questionable spending, flagrant human-resource breaches, and other violations of government protocol at CMU.
The revelations have again thrust Ruel Reid, the embattled former minister of education, and CMU president Professor Fritz Pinnock into a whirlwind of controversy, days before they are slated to return to the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court to face corruption, fraud, and misappropriation charges.
Reid’s wife, Sharen, daughter Sharelle, and Brown’s Town Councillor Kim Brown Lawrence are also facing related charges.
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