Opposition slams Myrie’s TPDCo appointment

THE OPPOSITION People’s National Party says the decision to appoint Lionel Myrie as the interim head of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) is alarming and should be rescinded.

In a statement on Friday, Spokesperson on Tourism Janice Allen contended that a cloud still hangs over Myrie arising from his role in the scandal at the stateowned oil refinery Petrojam.

Myrie, a then director of the Petroleum Corporation Jamaica (PCJ), Petrojam’s parent company, faced strong backlash for his role in controversial multimilliondollar donations by the oil refinery.

Petrojam had acknowledged that an email Myrie sent to then Petrojam General Manager Floyd Grindley “formed the basis” on which the company granted a $10 million donation requested by the Homestead Citizens for Action Benevolent Society.

The donation was requested for the construction of two classroom blocks at the Homestead Primary School in St Catherine and the money was paid directly to the institution.

A performance audit of Petrojam, which was conducted by the Auditor General’s Department, found that Myrie also forwarded, on behalf of a citizens group identified as the Sydenham Citizens’ Association, an email to Grindley requesting a $9 million donation for a community project.

This donation is the subject of an investigation by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency.

During an appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament in May 2019, Myrie acknowledged that in both cases he was merely acting as a “courier”.

Myrie insisted at the time that when he forwarded the emails to Grindley, he was not acting in his capacity as a PCJ director or as an assistant to former Energy Minister Dr Andrew Wheatley.

The opposition spokesperson is asserting that Myrie has failed to distinguish himself as a fit and proper manager of public funds.

Allen said that the Petrojam scandal is still fresh in the minds of Jamaicans, who have not had closure to several scandalous actions.

“If the [Tourism] Minister [Ed Bartlett] does not rescind this improper decision, it will be a clear indication that the Government continues to pay only lip service in the fight against corruption and does not support good governance, which was missing at Petrojam,” Allen argued.