( L - R ) Phillips, Golding

PRIME MINISTER Bruce Golding has brushed aside a suggestion that Jamaica's reputation in the international community could be sullied as a result of the Mabey and Johnson bribery scandal, which had implicated Joseph Hibbert, a former technical officer in the Transport and Works Ministry.

Dr Peter Phillips, a senior Opposition parliamentarian, during the prime minister's question time in Gordon House yesterday, urged the Golding administration to move decisively to clear the country's name.

High-level team

Phillips highlighted that the Ghanaian authorities had dis-patched a high-level team of officials, led by its attorney general, to London, in an attempt to remove the smear of bribery from the country's image.

But Golding said Jamaica's reputation would not be tarnished by the Mabey and Johnson scandal.

The British bridge-building company was recently convicted of corruption in a United Kingdom court. The company admitted that it paid bribes to government officials in at least three countries, including Jamaica, to win contracts.

In the wake of the charges against the bridge-building company, two Ghanaian state ministers who were fingered in the corruption deal resigned last week.

Hibbert, whose troubles appear to be increasing following the tabling yesterday in Parliament of the contractor general's findings, had resigned as junior minister in the Golding administration.

The prime minister told members of the House that there was no need for Jamaica to send a high-level team to the United Kingdom.

He said the Serious Fraud Office of the United Kingdom visited Jamaica and consulted with the local police and made available to them information and documents relating to the Mabey and Johnson corruption allegations.

But Phillips insisted that the prime minister should ensure that the police investigation into the Hibbert affair was expedited.

"By the terms of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the Government of Jamaica is in fact required to use all measures necessary to investigate and bring to conclusion any reports of corrupt behaviour within the Jamaica State or on behalf of Jamaican officials," Phillips said.

No enquiry

However, Golding made it clear that he would not enquire into the police investigation.

"I have deliberately, purposefully not sought to enquire," he asserted.

Golding said further that even if the police had concluded its initial investigation into the corruption allegations, it had a duty to examine the contractor general's report to determine whether any action should be taken.

Distancing his administration from the corruption scandal, Golding made it clear that the allegations against Hibbert referred to "a period prior to this administration coming to office".

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com