‘Some MPs don’t read’

In the last six years, since the establishment of Jamaica’s single anti-corruption body, the audited financial statements of the Integrity Commission (IC) have been submitted and tabled in Parliament as part of its annual report.

In at least four of those years, Everald Warmington has been a member of the Integrity Commission Oversight Committee, which has the mandate of reviewing the IC’s annual report, including its financial statements.

On Tuesday, Warmington declared that he had never seen an audit of the IC tabled in Parliament, yet the agency was spending taxpayers’ money.

“When are we going to see audits of that department over the years?” the St Catherine South West member of parliament questioned, charging that “there is no way we are going to approve another $2 billion for a department that has not been audited for years”.

He even warned that if the audit was not tabled by March 2025, he would not allow the Parliament to sign off on allocations for the running of the agency.

Finance and the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke, who was fielding questions from lawmakers during the sitting of the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, said no reasonable person could “object to your (Warmington’s) requirement”.

Continuing, Clarke said: “These are public funds, and I have no reason to believe that it is a difficult proposition.”

All 63 lawmakers in the Lower House receive a soft copy of the IC’s annual report, which contains the audited financial statements of the commission.

The anti-corruption body yesterday expressed alarm at Warmington’s comments during the meeting of the Standing Finance Committee.

“Ironically, the Integrity Commission Parliament Oversight Committee, of which Mr Warmington is a member, met with the commission for several hours yesterday (Tuesday) morning. One of the stated purposes of the meeting was to review the 2023-2024 annual report of the commission, inclusive of the commission’s audited financial statements for the 2023-2024 fiscal year,” the IC stated. An apology was tendered for Warmington’s absence at the meeting.

The IC said it remained concerned that there are parliamentarians who continue to exhibit a clear lack of knowledge, or understanding, of the very laws that they are elected to write.

“It is also obvious that some parliamentarians do not read the reports of the Integrity Commission that are routinely tabled in the House of Representatives,” read the statement from the IC.

The IC said that contrary to the statements made by Warmington, the accounting and financial affairs of the commission have been audited every year since the agency was established.

According to the commission, the audits, in each case, have been conducted by an independent external auditor whose appointment has been approved, in writing, by the finance minister.

The audit of the commission has been done in compliance with Section 20(1) of the Integrity Commission Act. The provision states that “the commission shall keep proper accounts of its receipts, payments, assets, and liabilities, and such accounts shall be audited annually by an auditor appointed each year by the commission with the approval of the minister (of finance)”.

The financial statements, as at March 2024, indicate that the audit was done by SFAI Jamaica, C.R. Hylton & Company, chartered accountants.

“In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of the commission as at March 31, 2024, and of its financial performance and cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS),” the independent external auditors stated.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com