IC mum on possible prosecution of lawmakers, officials

Nearly two years after two parliamentarians and six public officials were referred to the Integrity Commission’s (IC) director of corruption prosecution for providing false information to the anti-corruption body, no prosecutorial action has been reported in relation to the alleged offences.

Providing false information to the IC is prosecutable under Section 43 (2) (a) of the Integrity Commission Act, 2017.

Section 43(2)(a) states that a person who knowingly makes a false statement in a statutory declaration commits an offence, and is liable, on summary conviction in a parish court, to a fine not exceeding $2 million, or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years.

In the 2020-2021 annual report of the IC, the single anti-corruption body reported that two parliamentarians and six public officials had been referred to Director of Corruption Prosecution Keisha Prince Kameka for “providing false information”.

The report did not specify whether the two parliamentarians are members of the House of Representatives or the Upper House.

The Gleaner sought an update on the referrals and received a terse response from Prince Kameka and the IC’s director of investigation, Kevon Stephenson.

“The matters referenced in the annual report have since been referred for investigation and subsequent action as required. In the circumstances, [we] do not believe the commission is in a position to offer any additional information with regard to those matters at this time,” the IC stated in its response.

Among other queries, The Gleaner had asked whether the director of corruption prosecution had made a ruling on any of the eight cases referred.

Meanwhile, six months after the 2021 statutory declaration by Opposition Leader Mark Golding and his family was gazetted in keeping with the requirements under the Integrity Commission Act, the assets, income and liabilities of Prime Minister Andrew Holness are yet to be published as at April 3, 2023.

Under the law, the IC is mandated to publish annually in the Jamaica Gazette the summary of the statutory declarations of the prime minister and leader of the Opposition.

The Gleaner asked IC Chairman Seymour Panton whether the statutory declaration of the prime minister has been sent for gazetting.

“The answer to the specific question is that the commission has not sent the summary of the PM’s statutory declaration for gazetting as it has not yet been duly completed as required by the law,” he said on Monday.

In January, National Integrity Action Director Professor Emeritus Trevor Munroe argued that the continuing silence by Holness and the commission on the statutory declaration was “tantamount, in the absence of good reason, to disrespect for the Jamaican people and disregard for the intent of Jamaican anti-corruption law”.

At the time, Munroe argued that the annual Integrity Commission check on the income, assets, and liabilities of members of parliament and other public officials is one basic tool democracies utilise globally in tracking whether public officials are getting rich illicitly at public expense.

“To be fair to himself and to avoid speculation, our prime minister needs to address the inability of the Integrity Commission to certify and, thereafter, gazette the summary of his 2021 statutory declaration ... ,” Munroe said.