Allegations cloud firm's community endeavours

A telecoms adviser to the administration in Antigua who was supportive of a Digicel bid for a licence there, and who has been charged with corruption in relation to the receipt of money from Digicel, has spoken to The Irish Times about the issue.

The case involving Dean Jonas, a former adviser to the Ministry of Public Works in Antigua, is to come before a magistrate on July 27th for a decision as to whether there is sufficient cause for it to go ahead. If it proceeds, it will be heard by the High Court, Mr Jonas said.

A hearing on May 25th was adjourned due to the magistrate being unwell, he said.

The case centres on two key issues: Jonas received financial assistance of approximately $19,000 (€15,700) from Digicel, which he and the company say was given to pay for furniture for a school owned by Jonas and his wife; and an allegation that Jonas approached the Antiguan tenders board to lobby for Digicel.

At the time, the board was considering the sale of an Antiguan mobile phone company. That process has been put on hold.

Jonas said, when he discovered that Digicel was making community donations, he requested financial help for his school.

That was in July 2004, prior to the Antiguan telecoms tendering process. He could not recall who he made the request to. He said Digicel paid for furniture in the US worth $17,000, which was then shipped to Antigua. He was given $2,000 to pay the freight costs.

He said the school is a fee-paying non-profit school that he set up about three years ago, with almost 200 three- to four-year-old students. Jonas said that, as a senior adviser on telecoms and public utilities to the Antiguan administration, he did in fact support the Digicel bid for Antiguan State company PCS.

He also said he did have contacts with the tenders board that was considering the issue but these contacts were not to do with the Digicel bid. He said he would not discuss the nature of the contact he did have with the tendering board.

Jonas was suspended from his position and has since resigned. He said he has never acted in a manner that was inconsistent with his functions and has always acted with integrity.

Digicel, for its part, has said the allegations arise from a misrepresentation of its philanthropic activities and are motivated by political infighting and competitor mischief making.

The group took an early decision that it would become heavily involved in the community in Jamaica and the Caribbean generally, and is actively involved in such bodies as the Jamaican Chamber of Commerce and other private sector representative groups.

It also decided it had to act as a good corporate citizen and has a well-funded philanthropic operation. It gave 200 million Jamaican dollars (€2.6 million) to the recovery programme established in the wake of Hurricane Ivan in 2004, among other immediate disaster relief donations.

In September 2004, Digicel formally announced the establishment of the Digicel Foundation, a philanthropic organisation, whose board is made up of Digicel staff. A steering committee had been working on the project since April or May 2004, according to the foundation's executive, former Jamaican army general Bob Neish.

The foundation has a budget of $750,000 for the year to March 2006 and concentrates on educational and youth projects. General Neish said that such a budget goes "a considerable way" in Jamaica. One of its first completed projects was a three-classroom school for three- to six-year-old children in Lakes Pen, outside Kingston.

The school is in a poor area where people live in homes that are often little more than wood and corrugated iron huts.

The new school replaces a cramped room behind the local church and is bright and freshly painted by Digicel staff. It sticks out amongst the poor and drab local housing.

The Mustard Seed organisation, which provides a home and some therapy to abandoned children suffering from disabilities, also receives support.

Such children can often be abandoned in Jamaica and there is no government service.

Conditions in the Mustard Seed home visited by The Irish Times were extremely grim by Irish standards, although admirable when compared to the standard of housing in downtown Kingston.

The Digicel foundation has 11 projects on its books, four of which are finished. Application forms are made available in Digicel dealer outlets so local communities can apply for support for projects.