Commissioners must explain timing of ruling – Robinson

At least one member of the oversight committee of the Integrity Commission has said that the commissioners have questions to answer following the delayed release of a ruling that exonerated Prime Minister Andrew Holness from conflict-of-interest allegations.

Julian Robinson, an opposition member on the committee, suggested that, if commissioners had the opinion of Director of Corruption Prosecution Keisha Prince-Kameka, it should have been presented at the same time the report was tabled in Parliament.

The report, which was tabled on Tuesday, detailed the findings of an investigation into the award of more than 40 government contracts totalling approximately $57 million to Westcon Construction Limited, whose directors were Robert Garvin and Donovan Simpson.

Holness admitted to knowing the two men for more than 20 years but said that only Garvin is known to him “personally”.

The Integrity Commission referred the report implicating Holness in an alleged conflict of interest to Prince-Kameka after it concluded that he may have influenced the awarding of the contracts to the company of Garvin, his business associate.

Holness has denied the allegations, insisting he made the recommendations “in good faith” and that it was a convention of parliamentarians.

Prince-Kameka subsequently ruled that no charges would be preferred against Holness.

The director of corruption prosecution, in her ruling dated January 12, 2023, said that additional material was made available that investigations failed to contradict or prove more evidence in support of the offences contemplated.

“No criminal charges can be laid,” she said.

The ruling was released a month after it was prepared and submitted, and two days after the report implicating Holness was tabled.

“There are questions about the release of the information in the tabling of documents in Parliament because I think, if people knew at the time of the tabling that there was already an opinion that there’d be no prosecution, then maybe they would have had a different perspective on the issue,” Robinson told The Gleaner on Thursday.

“I do think this warrants an explanation from them as to the timing of the report and then the opinion, and, from what we’re seeing now, it appears as if both things were in hand at the same time or before. There’s obviously a delay in the release of the opinion, which obviously influenced how we would have responded to the report,” he added.

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, who sits on the committee as a government member, said that “it is quite clear” that the review commission examining the Integrity Commission Act should meet in the shortest possible time.

“We need to examine the provision of the Integrity Commission and how it is behaving,” he said.

Chairman of the committee, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, said that there is a possibility that the issue may come up for discussion at the next committee, though an agenda has already been set.

He declined to say whether the committee will summon commissioners to answer questions on the matter.