'Portia Simpson Miller’s net worth is not US$20 million' – Falconer

The former Prime Minister of Jamaica and now the Leader of the Opposition Portia Simpson Miller does not have a net worth of US$20 million said former Minister of Information, Sandrea Falconer.

She was responding to an article on Loop News yesterday which cited Get Net Worth, a website that estimates the net worth of celebrities and the world’s rich and famous placing Portia Simpson Miller at US$20 million.

Falconer said that this served to damage the Leader of the Opposition’s ‘good name’ and that Jamaicans would be left to assume she was far wealthier than she really is.

Falconer, now a communications and media consultant posted on her Facebook page: “The online entertainment news service LOOP repeated a false story from an internet site which alleges that the Most Honourable Portia Simpson Miller is worth 20 million US dollars.

 This claim is FALSE.

LOOP at no time sought a response to the allegation from Mrs. Simpson Miller or her office.

LOOP had been asked to retract this damaging allegation immediately and take additional actions to minimise the damage to Mrs. Simpson Miller's reputation.”

It was pointed out that Get Net Worth estimated Portia Simpson Miller’s net worth and did not say that her assets were valued at US$20 million. The website did not give an explanation as to how it had arrived at the figure of US$20 million.

The definition of net worth is the ‘difference between the assets and liabilities of a person or business’.

The concept is defined somewhat differently, depending upon whether the term applies to a business or an individual.

A political communications specialist speaking with Loop News said: “You do have these lists like Forbes, The Financial Times and Vanity Fair who put out these lists of famous people’s net worth.

“It makes for interesting and entertaining reading. In developed countries, people don’t bat an eye – it goes with the territory.

However in Jamaica, people can get sensitive because there are “bad mind” people who begrudge wealth – it’s a mentality. In Jamaica questions of politician’s net worth are taboo.”