Face the press

The National Integrity Action (NIA) has called on the Integrity Commission (IC) to announce an urgent press conference to further clarify issues arising from the seeming conundrum caused by the tabling of a report implicating the prime minister in a possible conflict of interest and the subsequent release of a decision that had absolved him even before the former was laid in Parliament.

In a release yesterday, the NIA acknowledged that the IC has clarified aspects of its action regarding the report of its director of investigation, Kevon Stephenson, and the ruling of the director of corruption prosecution.

However, the anti-corruption watchdog said there are more questions to be answered, after the commission issued a statement on Friday telling the country that it broke no law in the sequence of events which resulted in the prime minister being referred for possible prosecution, and the release of another report saying he would not be charged.

It was the view of NIA that “In light of the likelihood that public confidence in the Integrity Commission has been shaken and the actual damage to the reputation of the PM, the Office of the Prime Minister and to Jamaica, NIA urges the IC to urgently convene a press briefing. This would allow officers of the IC to respond to these and other questions arising from its ‘Official Statement’ … ” NIA said yesterday.

The NIA said it believed that the negative impact of the ‘gag clause’ was evident in prohibiting simultaneous release of the director of corruption prosecution’ (DCP) ruling: ‘no case to prosecute’ and the director of investigation’s referral of ‘potential conflict of interest’ by the PM for prosecution.

NIA wants answers to questions about the apparent inordinate time lag between director of investigation’s report, dated October 22, 2022, referring matters relating to the PM’s ‘potential conflict of interest’ to the DCP for a ruling was only ‘sent to Parliament and was tabled on February 14th ’; fully 17 weeks after completion.

It also wants to know why the commissioners took more than four weeks ‘to read, understand and discuss’ and finalise the ‘review’ of a 14-page document that ‘no charges be brought in support of the allegations made’.

According to NIA, the convening of such a press conference would allow commissioners to respond to outstanding questions arising from its ‘Official Statement’.