DIVIDED WE STAND: JLP accuses PNP of ‘manufactured rage’ in FID firestorm
Published:Tuesday | June 3, 2025 | 12:09 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
The ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has sharply criticised the People’s National Party (PNP) for staging a protest against the appointment of Dennis Chung as chief technical director of the Financial Investigations Division (FID), calling the demonstration “vulgar and inappropriate”.
On Monday, PNP leaders gathered outside the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service in Kingston, voicing opposition to Chung’s appointment. They argued that his public commentary, particularly on the Integrity Commission’s 2024 report concerning Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness’ income, compromises his credibility to lead an agency responsible for financial crime investigations.
The FID, which probes financial crimes, falls under the finance ministry.
“Our view is, to the best of our knowledge, Mr Chung has not made any comments which should compel the administration to acquiesce to calls by the PNP for it to make the unusual and improper invention of interfering with a meritorious process coordinated by the PSC (Public Service Commission),” JLP Senator Abka Fitz-Henley stated during a press conference on Monday.
Chung’s appointment took effect yesterday. As chief technical director, he will be responsible for day-to-day operations. The law provides for ministerial policy guidance.
Fitz-Henley also rejected the claim that Chung lacks the necessary qualifications, particularly a background in law enforcement.
Although the original job advertisement required 12 years of law enforcement experience, this requirement was removed in a revised version published in January 2025.
Twelve years’ experience in law enforcement, five of them at a senior level, was listed as one of the requirements when the job was first advertised last year.
“At least five individuals who have served either in a permanent capacity or acted in the top job at the FID have not had direct law-enforcement qualification. In fact, like Mr Chung, two of those individuals have credentials in accounting at the levels of a master’s degree, one had qualifications in business administrations and economics, one is an attorney-at-law with a master’s in business administration, and the other had qualifications in ICT (information and communications technology),” said Fitz-Henley.
However, the requirement that the FID boss has a strong law-enforcement background was in keeping with a practice that spans over two decades, dating back to the tenure of Mike Surridge, a former cop from the United Kingdom.
Other past FID chief technical directors include former senior cops Calvin Small, Justin Felice, and Selvin Hay.
Robin Sykes, another former director, is one of Jamaica’s leading authorities on money laundering.
Ordinor Tucker served as acting director general of the agency from August 1, 2024 to January 2025, following Hay’s departure.
Pamela Folkes served as head of FID when the agency was a department in the Ministry of Finance.
She was replaced by a senior cop in 2010, when the FID became a division with more autonomy over its operations.
Audley Shaw, who was minister of finance at the time, said the move to appoint someone with a law-enforcement background to head the FID was part of the Government’s push to deal with the issue of corruption.
Meanwhile, Senator Marlon Morgan, spokesperson for the JLP’s communication taskforce, accused the PNP of “exploiting cynicism and ignorance” of citizens to “undermine the progress being made by the governing party to improving the quality of life of Jamaican people”.
He described the PNP’s reaction to Chung’s appointment as “manufactured rage”.