Access granted

A tribunal has ordered the government’s principal training agency to hand over the full, unredacted and authenticated minutes of all board meetings held between 2020 and 2023 to the attorneys for a senior manager facing disciplinary charges.

The order, made on October 12 by a three-member panel of the Access to Information (ATI) Appeal Tribunal, also compels the Human Employment and Resource Training/National Service Training Agency Trust (HEART/NSTA Trust) to provide all reports submitted to the board by its audit, human resources and financial subcommittees over the same period.

The reports from the audit sub-committee are expected to shed light on a $1.2-billion overexpenditure on personal emoluments to a select group of employees during the 2021-2022 financial year.

The HEART/NSTA Trust has 21 days to comply with the orders, the panel, led by retired High Court Judge Justice Glen Brown, said in its ruling, a copy of which was obtained by The Sunday Gleaner.

“The HEART/NSTA Trust failed to provide any lawful reasons for the redactions and failed to explain and justify the reasons for the exemptions claimed,” the tribunal declared in its decision.

“There were numerous redactions and they failed to justify even one,” the panel said, more than two years after the appeal was filed, alleging that the training agency had breached the ATI Act.

The decision comes amid complaints by journalists and civil society groups about widespread breaches of the ATI law by Jamaican authorities, including government ministries and municipal authorities.

Sonia Ingleton, the former senior manager for human resource management at the HEART/NSTA Trust, submitted an ATI request on April 15, 2024, seeking the minutes of all board meetings held between January 2020 and December 2023.

Overpayment

of $14.3 million

Ingleton was suspended on January 31, 2023, and an investigation was launched into her over alleged irregularities involving personal emoluments relating to an overpayment of $14.3 million at the training agency in the 2022-2023 financial year, according to documents before the tribunal.

An internal report by the finance department of HEART/NSTA indicated that over expenditure on personal emoluments for the same financial year was $1.2 billion, documents reviewed by The Sunday Gleaner show.

The audit also indicated that the agency was likely facing a further overspend of $500 million for the 2022-2023 financial year.

The internal report triggered an internal audit of HEART/NSTA, which was completed in January 2023.

The disciplinary proceedings against Ingleton ended with her retirement in December 2024.

The HEART/NSTA Trust disclosed the minutes requested by Ingleton but made significant redactions and provided no reasons for withholding the information.

For example, the welcome at a board meeting held on June 22, 2023 was redacted from the minutes disclosed to Earle & Wilson, the law firm representing Ingleton.

The words “Matter for discussion” were also redacted.

The calling of the meeting to order, apologies for absence and the termination of the meeting by the board chairman were the only items left unredacted in the minutes of the meeting, which lasted one hour and seven minutes, according to documents reviewed by The Sunday Gleaner.

Twenty-six agenda items from a board meeting held on February 23, 2022, which lasted nearly four hours, were redacted from the minutes disclosed to Ingleton’s attorneys.

Among the redacted items was a report by the audit sub-committee, headed at the time by then board member Marlon Morgan. Also redacted was a report by the projects and programmes committee, headed at the time by board member Dr Eleasia Charle, the documents show.

An affidavit submitted to the ATI Appeal Tribunal by Natalie Robinson, HEART/NSTA’s senior director for marketing, communications and community engagement and ATI officer, cited sections 17(b)(i), 20(I) and 22(I) of the ATI Act as the basis for withholding the presentations by Morgan and Charles, along with the other redactions.

Justify the redactions

The same sections were cited to justify the redactions from the minutes of the June 22 meeting, including the welcome.

“The minutes of this meeting in their entirety are being withheld from disclosure pursuant to sections 17 (a), 17 (b) (i), 20 (I) and 22 (I) of the ATI Act,” Robinson asserted.

Section 17(b)(i) prohibits the release of an official document if its disclosure would constitute an actionable breach of confidence.

Under Section 20(I), an official document is exempt from disclosure if its release would reveal trade secrets or disclose information with commercial value that could be destroyed or diminished by publication.

Section 22 of the ATI Act bars a public authority from granting access to an official document if doing so would involve the unreasonable disclosure of information relating to the personal affairs of any person, living or dead.

The ATI Appeal Tribunal said the HEART/NSTA Trust was required to demonstrate that the redacted portions of the minutes contained confidential information, related to personal affairs or constituted trade secrets or matters possessing commercial value.

“The respondent (HEART/NSTA) seemed unconvinced and was unconvincing that the redactions were justified. This is based on the various changes made to the redactions during the course of the hearing,” the panel said in its 12-page decision.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com