Four more donors revealed

The names of four additional Jamaican private sector players who funded the public relations campaign for Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith’s 2022 Commonwealth secretary general bid have been disclosed.

A May 1, 2023 filing by the US-based Finn Partners under America’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) stated that Sandals Resorts International, The Jamaica National Group Limited, AIC Barbados Limited, and Barita Investments Limited were among the donors who paid for its services.

Local donors reportedly contracted Finn Partners for US$99,000 to provide public relations services for the campaign. A June 6, 2022 filing confirmed Finn Partners’ engagement.

The May document seen by The Sunday Gleaner indicates that the amendment was to give notice of a change of information and “to correct the ‘From Whom’ column of section 14(a) of Fees received for a Foreign Principal. Amend Item(s) 14(a), 15(a) for Supplemental Statement Period Ending: 09/30/2022”.

Johnson Smith was named as the foreign principal.

In a supplemental statement filed on November 8, 2022, Finn Partners indicated that Johnson Smith paid each of the fees it received under the contract. However, the May 2023 amendment removed Johnson Smith’s name from each payment and identified them with the Jamaican private sector donors.

There was also an amendment to the section of the supplemental statement that asked whether Finn Partners “disbursed or expended monies in connection with activity on behalf of any foreign principal named … or transmitted monies to any such foreign principal”.

In a table in the November 2022 document, Finn Partners named Johnson Smith as the recipient of US$15,000 and with a purpose to cover expenses.

However, in the amendment filed in May, Finn Partners said the answer to the question was “no” because “no expenses were paid on behalf of this foreign principal”.

Seven donors identified

Last September, de facto Information Minister Robert Morgan told Parliament that businessman Keith Duncan and companies GraceKennedy and the Musson Group contributed to the Finn contract. He said he received permission from the donors he named but that others declined to disclose their identity.

The minister was answering questions tabled by Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson for Prime Minister Andrew Holness. There were also outcries from civil society groups for a full disclosure of the contributions to the campaign.

Finn’s May 2023 amendment now identifies seven donors whose declared amounts totalled approximately US$81,615, which is almost US$17,385 short of the contracted amount.

However, in a separate filing on May 1, obtained from US Department of Justice’s website, Finn Partners indicated that it received US$17,356 from PR Etcetera Limited.

Finn stated on the filed document that it was amending a “Supplement Statement for the period ending September 30, 2022 to report a late payment received on April 11, 2023 for a Foreign Principal whose account ended during the same reporting period”.

In his September statement, the information minister also told Parliament that PR Etcetera won a bid through the Government’s procurement process to protect the image of the candidacy of Johnson Smith.

The director of PR Etcetera is Tess-Maria Leon, a consultant and former assistant to Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett. Leon and Delano Seiveright, a strategist with the tourism ministry, are listed as shareholders, Companies Office records show. Seiveright ceased being a director in 2018.

In the document, Finn confirmed that Duncan paid US$10,000; GraceKennedy US$15,000; and Musson Group, through its food manufacturing subsidiary Seprod Limited, gave US$7,000.

For the previously undisclosed contributors: the Adam Stewart-led Sandals Group paid US$15,000; Michael Lee-Chin’s AIC provided US$14,980; and Barita Investments gave US$10,000. Some US$9,634.53 came from the JN Group.

The funds were paid between April 26 and May 5, 2022.

The vote for Commonwealth secretary general took place on June 24 in Kigali, Rwanda. Incumbent Patricia Scotland prevailed 27-24 over Johnson Smith.

No comment

Contacted by The Sunday Gleaner last week, Barita declined to comment, while the JN Group said a request for a response is being reviewed.

Requests for a comment sent Thursday to Finn Partners, Sandals and AIC have not been answered.

Following the disclosures last year, Don Wehby, group chief executive officer of GraceKennedy, said that his company made a contribution to Johnson Smith’s campaign with the recognition that had she succeeded in her bid for the post, “it would have been extremely beneficial to Jamaica and to the wider private sector”.

Wehby also said he believed that such a disclosure should be made by the Government.

Duncan, the CEO of the financial services company JMMB Group, said he made a personal contribution. He said he was prepared, from the outset, to be transparent about his contribution.

The Government, which said it had nothing to do with the Finn contract, indicated that it spent $18.2 million to cover Johnson Smith’s expenses for the campaign.

Additionally, some $25.7 million was spent on the Jamaican delegation’s June trip to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali.

Lawsuit under way

The financing of Johnson Smith’s campaign has spawned a lawsuit by Jamaica-born retired United States Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, Wilfred Rattigan, against the minister.

He filed the claim on April 19, 2023 after the finance ministry told him in a response to an access to information request that there was no documentation on payments to Johnson Smith’s campaign.

The Finn amendment was filed on May 1.

Rattigan argues in the lawsuit that it is “abundantly clear” that the monies paid to Finn Partners was a “gift/donation and is therefore governed by Section 9.3 of the Financial Administration and Audit Act (FAAA), which says when gifts are received, an acceptance of gift form must be completed and signed by the responsible officer of the ministry, department, or agency receiving it as well as the accounting officer”.

Johnson Smith, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade she heads, as well as the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service have filed applications in the Supreme Court asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed.

In an affidavit accompanying her application, Johnson Smith argued that Rattigan, who was born and raised in Waterhouse, St Andrew, does not appear to have “sufficient interest” to file the claim.

A notation on Rattigan’s claim said it was filed on behalf of “Jamaicans”, including those in the diaspora. But in a counter-move, lawyers representing Johnson Smith, her ministry and the Ministry of Finance have cited the court’s rules to argue that Rattigan does not meet the criteria to be a representative party.

“There is no order from the court appointing the claimant as a representative of Jamaicans in the diaspora and Jamaica,” said attorney Matthew Gabbadon in his affidavit for his clients, the two ministries.

Gifts must be properly accounted for

In an affidavit filed on June 27 in response to Johnson Smith and the legal team, Rattigan insisted that the issues involved are of “great public interest”.

He said as a Jamaican, he has a right to bring his application for administrative court orders under section 117 of the Constitution, the FAAA and Finance Ministry Circular #17 “to ensure that gifts received by Jamaican Government officials are properly accounted for in the Consolidated Fund”.

Johnson Smith, who is also a senator, has insisted that “at no time did I receive any gift, in either my personal or official capacity” and that she derived no personal benefit from the financing of the campaign. She also said the information sought by Rattigan was provided in Parliament.

The senator also argued that the payment to Finn Partners by third parties from the private sector was in support of a “Jamaican Government-sponsored activity”.

A hearing for the application to strike out Rattigan’s case is set for October 26.

editorial@gleanerjm.com