I just want my name to be cleared – Hayles

More than three years after barring Jamaica’s House of Representatives from tabling a report detailing allegations of irregularities against him, Ian Hayles, the former member of parliament for Hanover Western, is demanding a public apology from the Integrity Commission.

He also wants the report to be redone to absolve him of wrongdoing.

“I am in court now, seeking justice on the two premises that the investigation was founded on: allegations that land which they seized they had to return because it was not government land; and that there was building without the requisite approval.”

“So the report was written before they gave back the title for the land, and even when they saw that the penalties (for building approval) were paid, the report was still written,” Hayles charged. “What I would want to see is for the report to correct itself and say,’We made a mistake in investigating Ian Hayles because he had nothing to do with these projects’.”

“It’s nothing that I am hiding on my part. I just want when my kids reach a certain age that they know that their father did nothing wrong,” Hayles told The Gleaner. “There is no apology from the Integrity Commission or contractor general. It’s not like somebody will come to you and say, ‘I am sorry we investigated you’.”

Hayles sought the judicial review to prevent the tabling of the report by then Contractor General Dirk Harrison into allegations of conflict of interest, irregularities, and/or impropriety in relation to the construction of buildings without the approval of the Hanover Parish Council (now Municipal Corporation).

The matter was heard by Justice Nicole Simmons on May 11, 2017, who, by the following day, indicated that the “stay is extended until the completion of the hearing of the application” for leave to apply for judicial review.

However, in its annual report for the period ending March 31, 2020, the Integrity Commission stated that the parties were awaiting a new hearing date for the proceedings, but The Gleaner has since been advised that no new timeline has been set.

“It was a family member who was building. I had nothing to do with the matters. I don’t want anybody in Jamaica to think that there was hanky-panky going on with government properties and money. All I am asking for is that the report be rewritten or an apology is made.”

“It was my own colleagues who tried to set me up, but how could I sit down and watch the two foundations that you built your case on falling and you give back the private citizen their document? How could I sit down and allow them to table the report, knowing that I did nothing.”

The Office of the Contractor General has since been subsumed into the Integrity Commission.