PNP demands Andrew Wheatley leave cabinet after Integrity Commission illicit enrichment findings

The People's National Party used a press conference on June 18, 2026, to demand that Minister Andrew Wheatley be removed from cabinet immediately after the Integrity Commission concluded he breached corruption laws and prosecutors recommended four criminal charges against him.

Finance spokesman Julian Robinson, opposition leader Mark Golding, and Senator Cleveland Tomlinson addressed reporters. Robinson said the case marks the first time an Integrity Commission probe has led to recommended illicit-enrichment charges against a sitting parliamentarian—a serious allegation centred on wealth officials cannot link to lawful income.

The commission's inquiry, which Robinson said began around 2021, examined Wheatley's finances from 2013 to 2022. According to Tomlinson, Wheatley's declared lawful income over that period was about $187 million, while his spending and asset acquisitions totalled roughly $352 million—leaving $164 million unexplained. Investigators also found about $168 million in bank deposits across four personal accounts that lacked satisfactory explanation, from roughly $595 million that flowed through those accounts.

Officials challenged several explanations Wheatley offered. He said he sold Western Medical Center in 2013 for $13 million in intermittent cash payments but produced no receipts; the commission found the named buyer had been removed from Jamaica by deportation or extradition three years earlier. A claimed high-yield scheme called "You Win Antigga" from 2007 to 2010 could not be verified and was absent from earlier statutory declarations until 2024. Wheatley reported about $143 million in rental income but initially refused tenant details, citing data protection rules the commission rejected; he could not fully substantiate the sum. Five Bank of Nova Scotia commercial loans taken in his name from 2013 to 2021—totalling more than $50 million—were never disclosed. Land at East Kirkland Heights subdivided into 20 strata lots saw 14 sold between 2014 and 2018 without appearing in his 2013–2016 declarations.

Golding said the Director of Corruption Prosecutions has recommended charges including illicit enrichment and false statutory declarations, making Wheatley's continued cabinet role untenable. Robinson noted Wheatley was dropped as energy minister in 2018 amid corruption allegations and spent years outside cabinet before returning in September 2025—despite an illicit-enrichment notice served on January 29, 2024.

The opposition also pressed the government on a memorandum of understanding to accept third-country nationals from the United States, questioning conflicting accounts of who initiated the deal, and called on Prime Minister Andrew Holness to apologise for telling an opposition member to "shut up" during heated parliamentary proceedings the previous day.