Portia Simpson Miller yesterday asked the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Integrity Commission to investigate the deepening campaign funding scandal rocking the Opposition party and report back by October.

Simpson Miller’s request came a day after she drew national criticism and sarcasm by telling journalists that she was unaware of the scandal, which has made headlines since August 22 when PNP Treasurer Norman Horne’s report to the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in July, in which he accused some candidates of not remitting campaign donations, was leaked to the media.

Horne alleged that while the PNP was facing difficulties in raising campaign funds, some senior members, whom he described as the party’s biggest competition, collected monies from donors but did not hand them over to the party’s treasury.

A release issued late yesterday by PNP Deputy General Secretary Julian Robinson said that the decision for the probe was taken at a meeting of the officer corps, including Simpson Miller.

Robinson said that the terms of reference for the investigation would be completed by Monday, September 5, and the commission will be asked to provide a preliminary report to the officer corps by October 3.

Robinson said that the commission can draft in additional expertise, as required, to complete its investigation. The PNP’s Integrity Commission, established in 2010, is chaired by Bishop Wellesley Blair, and includes Daisy Coke, Burchell Whiteman, Cedric McCulloch, and Fred Hamaty.

Simpson Miller’s decision came as the scandal continued to sprial Tuesday with former Transport and Works Minister Dr Omar Davies calling out PNP General Secretary Paul Burke on statements Burke made at a recent NEC meeting.

In a letter to Burke, which Dr Davies released to the media, the former minister said he had received a report that Burke had stated that the PNP’s efforts in the February 25, 2016 General Election were hampered by inadequate financing, as some senior party members had not passed on funds from donors to the central treasury.

“I was informed that you went on to state explicitly that you had learnt that it is an established practice for large Chinese firms to pay an ‘agent’s fee’, ranging from one per cent to 1.5 per cent of the total project cost. You claimed that it was customary that the ‘agent’ would be named by the minister with portfolio responsibility for the relevant sector,” Dr Davies wrote.

“You then specifically alluded to a particular large project which was being implemented and asserted that, based on the level of expenditure on that project, the ‘agent’s fee’ would have amounted to between US$10 million and US$12 million. The link which you sought to establish to the PNP’s campaign financing was that a significant percentage of this amount should have been turned over to the party,” Davies wrote.

He said that, while Burke gave no names, “many persons left the meeting with the clear impression that, within the construct which you had outlined, I was the minister who had recommended the agent to the Chinese firm”.

Davies demanded that Burke lay out all the facts at his disposal in connection with the matter, adding, “I have the right to make this demand of you as my own integrity is being questioned as a result of your unsubstantiated utterances.”

Dr Davies also told Burke that it was “reckless and unacceptable” that charges as serious and grievous as those that he has made “have been advanced without any supporting evidence”.

Yesterday, the anti-corruption non governmental organisation, National Integrity Action (NIA) issued a statement containing five demands on the PNP’s leadership. These were:

(1) The PNP should speedily conduct, conclude, and make public its findings regarding any contribution from any foreign entity to a candidate or to the party;

(2) The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency to initiate an investigation as to whether Section 14 of the Corruption Prevention Act has been breached;

(3) The ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Jamaica and/or a representative of “large Chinese firms” operating in Jamaica to indicate whether there is an established practice of such firms paying an “agent’s fee” in the manner alleged;

(4) Current and previous ministers of transport and works, including Mike Henry (2007-2011) and Robert Pickersgill (2001-2007), to indicate whether they were aware of or took part in the alleged “established practice”; and

(5) The Government of Jamaica and, in particular the minister responsible for electoral affairs, as well as the Electoral Commission to upgrade, to the highest priority, the completion and promulgation of the relevant regulations, so that an early date may be named in relation to Political Party Registration and Campaign Finance Reform Legislation coming into effect.

NIA also noted that, in light of “credible allegations” attributed to Burke about an agent’s fee paid by large Chinese firms, it was recalling Section 14 of the Corruption Prevention Act 2002, which states:

“A public servant commits an act of corruption if (i) he directly or indirectly, accepts any article or money or any benefit, being a gift, favour, promise or advantage for himself or another person for doing any act or omitting to do any act.”

“We also wish to bring to public attention the fact that the amendments to the Representation of the People Act, passed by both Houses of Parliament, assented to by the Governor General, but not yet in effect — in the absence of regulations — make it an offence for a ‘registered political party or candidate’ to “knowingly accept contributions during a reporting period from any foreign…government or any agent of such a government, whether directly or indirectly,” NIA added.