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Holness associate Norman Brown granted leave to challenge aspect of IC report

By Clinton McGregor   
 
Chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), Norman Brown, was on Tuesday granted leave by the Supreme Court to apply for judicial review in relation to some of his claims against the Integrity Commission.
 
Mr. Brown petitioned the court in relation to the IC's Investigation Report into the Statutory Declarations Submitted by Prime Minister Andrew Holness for the years 2019-2022…" dated August 30, 2024.
 
Prime Minister Holness, who expressed objection to the IC report and its decision to refer the report to the Financial Investigations Division and Tax Administration Jamaica, was recently granted leave to challenge the findings of the IC.
 
Mr. Brown, whose name appeared in the report, also applied to the Supreme Court for permission to bring a judicial review claim against the Commission and its Director of Investigation in relation to aspects of the Investigation Report in which conflict of interest concerns were expressed in respect of his personal and business relationship with Dr. Holness.
 
His application also sought permission to bring a judicial review claim for various declarations and a mandatory injunction to compel the Commission to amend the Investigation Report to remove all adverse findings made in relation to him.
 
In a statement Wednesday, the Integrity Commission said it succeeded in challenging the grant of leave to apply for judicial review against it on the grounds that the Investigation Report was completed by the Director of Investigation and, as a matter of law, the director is the relevant decision-maker against whom a claim for judicial review could be made.
 
The court, therefore, refused to grant Mr. Brown permission to make any of his intended claims for judicial review against the Integrity Commission.
 
The Commission had indicated at the start of the proceedings that while it does not consider that the claim for judicial review in respect of the referrals to the Commissioner General of the TAJ and the Financial Investigations Division will likely succeed, it would not oppose the grant of leave to Mr. Brown to challenge them, given the low threshold that was to be satisfied for leave to be granted.
 
The judge, therefore, granted Mr. Brown leave to apply for judicial review only against the Director of Investigation in relation to that claim.
 
The judge also agreed with the Commission that Mr. Brown's application for permission to apply for judicial review in respect of the six declarations and the mandatory injunction he was seeking was misconceived as they do not require leave from the court.
 
A date for the hearing is to be decided.


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