Simpson Miller releases financial records
Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller yesterday released 10 years of her statutory declarations to the Integrity Commission which show her holding savings of just under $14 million, as well as stocks and bond investments totalling $48,750.
The documents also show Simpson Miller listing a Kingston 6 property which was purchased for $58,000. However, neither the year the property was bought nor its estimated current market value are stated.
Yesterday, the Opposition leader’s office said that there was no recent valuation done on the property, which was obviously acquired before December 2006, the date of the first released declaration.
The documents also show that over the 10-year period Simpson Miller missed only one reporting deadline, and that was by eight days in December 2007. That resulted in her being reported to the parliamentary leaders by the commission.
There were no liabilities listed on the documents which Simpson Miller made public in keeping with a promise made after Prime Minister Andrew Holness released his last 10 declarations last month.
At the time, Holness said that the information provided to the commission showed that he had shifted his assets portfolio from cash to real estate over the period since September 2007, mostly investing in his new home, which is still under construction and has already cost him over $80 million.
The information also showed that his assets, which were valued at $7.1 million and US$473,000 in 2007, now total $99 million and $415,000, mainly made up of the value of the new house, including the US$300,000 cost of the property, while his liabilities have grown from $3.4 million in 2007 to $34.4 million as at February 25 this year.
Over this same period he declared net income to the Integrity Commission of approximately $60 million and US$189,000.
Holness, in releasing his financial records to select media houses, said would take legislation to Parliament shortly to ensure that holders of four major political offices in the island — the prime minister, minister of finance, leader of the Opposition and the Opposition spokesperson on finance — declare their personal assets annually and make them public.
The prime minister said that the experience of dealing with the questions about his personal assets had raised the bar about the importance of public reassurance regarding the integrity of political leaders and the importance of declaring their assets on time.
“The process of declaration is not a very simple one because one has to ensure that precedent is set as to how it is done. However, it is within my authority to move legislation to ensure that whoever leads the country will declare their assets and, in addition, those who strive to be must also declare,” Holness said.
“So I am going to review the Integrity Commission Bill to make provision that…their assets must be publicly declared and that a process is put in place by which this is done,” he added.