News Briefs

Claims of $4m in land sales as school principal charged

Five people have already come forward with claims that they paid school principal Suelyn Ward Brown over $4 million for lands near Clifton, St Catherine, police officials have disclosed.

One complainant allegedly shelled out $2.4 million for a plot in the controversial development, according to one investigator.

Others claimed they paid $800,000 and $600,000.

The police are seeking information from the public as they continue their probe of illegal land sales allegedly linked to the Clansman Gang.

Ward-Brown is charged with breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Law Reform Fraudulent Transactions Special Provisions Act, and conspiracy to defraud.

Cops probe Brown’s Town mass shooting

The St Ann police are yet to establish a motive for the shooting of six people, one fatally, in Orange Hill, Brown’s Town, on Wednesday afternoon.

Dead is Ricardo Campbell, 22, of Orange Hill.

The injured persons were hospitalised.

Deputy Superintendent Ryan Gayle said the police responded to reports of the shooting around 12:15 p.m.

It is reported that a group of men was gathered at a location in the community having drinks when a black Toyota Voxy motor vehicle drove up.

Two men reportedly exited the vehicle and opened fire on the group.

Andem’s son freed of ganja charge

Twenty-year-old Tamoya Andem, the son of incarcerated former notorious gang leader Joel Andem, was on Wednesday found not guilty in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court of possession of 100lb of ganja, which was found in a motor car in which he was a passenger.

Andem’s co-accused, Zydan Douglas, was also acquitted of the charges.

A passenger and the driver pleaded guilty before the start of the trial.

On May 13, 2021, the men were passengers in a motor car that was stopped by the police for a traffic breach along Derrymore Road in St Andrew.

Bags of marijuana weighing 100lb were found on the back seat and trunk.

Andem and Douglas, in their defence, denied knowing that ganja was inside the car.

JFJ backs integrity watchdog becoming constitutional body

Executive director of Jamaicans for Justice, Mickel Jackson, is pushing for the Integrity Commission to become a constitutional body.

In her submission to a joint select committee reviewing the Integrity Commission Act, 2017, Jackson suggested that such a move would provide greater protection for the agency against legislative changes that could threaten its independence.

“The fact of the matter is that when you have a body like this that reports to Parliament and there are certain provisions within the law that can be changed, [it] may very well stand the possibility of undermining some operational provisions that would safeguard its independence,” the JFJ boss explained.

“We are putting our recommendation on record that the Integrity Commission should join with the recommendation of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica and the anticipated Human Rights Commission to becoming constitutional bodies,” she added.

UK PM fighting for political life

LONDON (AP):

British Prime Minister Liz Truss described herself as “a fighter and not a quitter” Wednesday as she faced a hostile Opposition and fury from her own Conservative Party over her botched economic plan.

Within hours of the defiant statement, her government was teetering on the verge of collapse.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she resigned after breaching rules by sending an official document from her personal email account. She used her resignation letter to lambaste Truss, saying she had “concerns about the direction of this government”.