If you believe Ash he gave all his money away – Ash now claimes the Government owed him up to $1 million for work done!?
NASSAU| Jonathan Ash declared in court today that Mattie Nottage, her husband Eddison Nottage and their Church Believers Faith Outreach Ministries received thousands of dollars from Jonathan Ash. Some payments declared were 20,000, 19,000, 10,000, 6,000 5,000 and there were many more.
Ash, the key witness in the bribery trial of former Cabinet minister Shane Gibson, said he gave Gibson $80,000 in five separate cash payments to expedite payments owed to him for Hurricane Matthew cleanup.
Ash said the payments were made between January 2017 and March 2017. On the witness stand before Supreme Court Justice Carolita Bethel and a nine-member jury, Ash said he spoke directly to Gibson, both face to face and on WhatsApp.
At one point, the contractor said he had 120 workers — each of whom were making between $50 and $70 per day — and he began paying them out of pocket because the government failed to pay them as agreed.
Ash said after only receiving four payments, the government owed him between $800,000 and over $1 million.
He testified that he visited then Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Jack Thompson at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) office sometime in mid-January concerning the outstanding funds and agitated for the government to honor its agreement.
