KINGSTON, (Reuters) – A Jamaican government  official stepped down yesterday after being implicated in a  bribery scandal involving British bridge-building firm Mabey &  Johnson, but he vowed to “clear my name.”

Joseph Hibbert, Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s junior  minister of Transport and Works, resigned effective immediately  after being linked to involvement with Mabey & Johnson and  alleged corrupt business practices in the Caribbean nation.

“This resignation will allow me the time and freedom to  clear my name and my integrity,” Hibbert said in a statement.

The firm, which publicly admitted wrongdoing last week, has  been charged in Britain with trying to influence  decision-makers such as Hibbert for contracts in both Jamaica  and Ghana between 1993 and 2001.

In Britain’s first-ever prosecution of a company for  overseas corruption, Mabey & Johnson also has been charged with  alleged breaches of U.N. sanctions by applying for contracts  under the Iraq oil-for-food program in 2001 and 2002.

Golding’s office said in a statement that the prime  minister accepted Hibbert’s resignation.
“In view of the allegations of bribery of Jamaican  Government officials made in the UK courts by the British firm  Mabey and Johnson Limited in which I am implicated, I have  today decided to submit my resignation as Minister of State in  the Ministry of Transport and Works to the Honourable Prime  Minister,” Hibbert said in the statement.