Step aside!

Executive Director of the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP), Jeanette Calder, wants public officials involved in the deepening Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) scandal to step aside from their public duties until further investigations are complete.

At the same time, head of the National Integrity Action (NIA), Trevor Munroe, believes the practice of members of parliament (MPs) recommending the issuance of gun licences further undermines public confidence in the country’s Parliament.

The civil society leaders’ comments come in the wake of a special report by the Integrity Commission into questionable operations at the FLA. The report was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

In a statement last evening, Calder said that “due to the severity of the matter, any public official deemed complicit in approving licences for applicants convicted of crimes and questionable activities should be suspended from presiding over the public affairs pending the outcome of further investigations”.

The JAMP executive charged that the report makes a damning case of abuse of power by those placed in positions of trust.

She contended that the information in the report spoke to conduct that would have seriously undermined the work of law enforcement and compromised the fight against corruption and crime.

“When the persons implicated include officials who still retain positions of trust in our Parliament and in Government, the seriousness cannot be overstated and a clear and unambiguous message must be sent.”

The anti-corruption watchdog organisation is urging the Government and Parliament to act immediately on the recommendations of the Integrity Commission.

She wants the Government to address all operational deficiencies identified in the report and determine if licences approved on appeal are to be revoked.

Calder is also pushing for the Integrity Commission to act immediately to determine if the actions of Dennis Meadows, former deputy chairman of the FLA, amounted to misconduct in public office and a breach of public trust.

Munroe, in a press release yesterday, wants the code of conduct of MPs promised since 2009 in Jamaica’s National Development Plan, Vision 2030, to be developed and enforced to encourage good behaviour and to sanction parliamentarians who are guilty of improper conduct.

“We note with satisfaction, that it was the Office of the Contractor General – one of three entities subsumed into the Integrity Commission – which commenced this investigation on November 3, 2016, the very same day the NIA called for a probe into the FLA,” Munroe declared.

The NIA noted that the findings of the Integrity Commission point to irregular practices in the issuance of gun licences to criminal elements and the questionable use of ministerial authority spanning many years at the FLA.

“Against this background, NIA supports the recommendations made in the report to reduce irregularities and the referral of aspects of the findings to the Financial Investigations Division (FID), Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), and the director of corruption prosecution at the Integrity Commission.”

The NIA is of the view that Firearms Licensing Act should be radically amended to place a barrier between politics and the governance and operations of the FLA.

“In effect, the authority should be transformed in such a manner to become similar to the Electoral Commission of Jamaica or the Office of the Public Defender and other such institutions, which are insulated from irregular political interference,” the release stated.

In its findings, the Integrity Commission said licences were granted to individuals who were convicted of drug offences in at least 13 cases while in at least four instances lottery scammers received gun permits.

The report added that in at least seven instances, licences were granted to applicants convicted of violent crimes who had previously been denied.

It said firearm user licences were denied and subsequently granted to individuals who were convicted for illegal possession of a firearm in at least three instances while permits were granted in at least 10 instances to persons FLA investigators said committed drug-related offences.

It also said that in 30 of 52 instances for the period February 2016 to February 2018, FLA investigators did not recommend that applicants be granted firearm user licences.

“Notwithstanding the fact that these persons were denied by the FLA board, they were subsequently granted the referenced licences upon a reconsideration of the board,” the report said.

Additionally, it said Robert Montague knowingly granted gun permits to six people with criminal traces when he was security minister between 2016 and 2018 while Peter Bunting, who held the national security portfolio between 2012 and 2016, granted gun licences to two people of similar ilk.