Minister of Information Dana Morris Dixon has clarified the selection process behind the recent appointment of the Head of the Financial Investigations Division (FID), stating that the final candidate was chosen after an initial offer was declined during the first round of interviews.

The FID has faced public scrutiny following the appointment of Dennis Chung, due to his known support of Prime Minister Andrew Holness, whose finances and assets are currently being investigated by the same agency and his lack of investigative experience.

Dixon, speaking at a Post-Cabinet press briefing on Tuesday, outlined that the government wants to be fully transparent with the citizens of Jamaica. “There is nothing to hide in relation to that selection process. There was a process that was engaged with, and a candidate was selected.

“There were two rounds that were done. In the first round, a candidate was selected, but that candidate opted not to accept the position. The panel that had been doing the interviews decided that they had to go back out in order to get a new candidate because the candidate from the original round did not accept the offer,” Dixon added, revealing that the panel wanted to also broaden the pool of individuals that could be selected.

She said that this is practised across Jamaica, where businesses advertise roles and conduct other rounds of interviews to get the best person for a job. “That is actually what happened there. And so the ad was changed to get more people. Now, that didn’t seem controversial to the team because the criteria in relation to law enforcement experience was not one that was there from the very beginning. And if you look at those who have headed the FID, they have not had law enforcement experience except for one. The last two who were acting did not have it. The longest-serving head did not have specific law enforcement experience.

“And so the panel felt that in order to get a broader cadre of persons applying for this position, which is an important position, they would remove that requirement. And they got a broader pool of applicants, and they then shortlisted and interviewed,” the information minister continued.

She revealed that the candidate with the highest score was the person who was offered the position. “That person was felt by the interview panel to have the kind of management, especially experience, to lead such an important organisation.”