Andrew Wheatley illicit enrichment inquiry began before 2025 cabinet return

Timeline details in a commission report place Dr. Andrew Wheatley under an illicit enrichment inquiry more than a year before he returned to Jamaica's cabinet.

The document states that on January 29, 2024, officials met with Dr. Wheatley and his attorney. During that session, he was served with an illicit enrichment notice requiring him to provide an explanation to the commission. That step meant he was already subject to an active illicit enrichment investigation as of that date.

The matter predates his cabinet appointment in 2025. Dr. Wheatley was later sworn in as minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister in September 2025.

That sequence has raised two linked accountability questions. When the prime minister made the September appointment, was he aware that Dr. Wheatley was already under investigation for illicit enrichment? And if Dr. Wheatley knew about the notice, did he inform the prime minister or keep that information to himself?

If he withheld it, that would strengthen the case for his immediate removal from the cabinet. If he disclosed it, attention turns to why the prime minister still proceeded with the appointment.

The episode also raises expectations that the prime minister will dismiss Dr. Wheatley and clarify publicly whether he knew about the investigation before the minister was sworn in.