IC commissioners to face oversight committee
Published:Tuesday | October 15, 2024 | 12:11 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
With the commissioners of the Integrity Commission (IC) scheduled to appear before the oversight committee of Parliament today, a debate over whether the committee should accept or reject recommendations arising from investigations done by the anti-corruption body is expected to be on the floor for deliberation.
Commissioners of the seven-year-old IC, led by its chairman, retired Justice Seymour Panton, are expected to field questions from members of the Integrity Commission Oversight Committee (ICOC).
When the ICOC last met on September 24, this year, to examine three reports from the IC, there was strong debate over whether the IC’s recommendations should be accepted without challenge.
One of the recommendations of the IC that triggered sharp debate was its urging of Parliament to support its referral of a report on Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ income and assets to the Financial Investigations Division (FID).
Committee member Phillip Paulwell sought to make a case that the ICOC had never denied any recommendation it received, “based largely on guidance from the chairman that the committee’s role was not to second-guess the Integrity Commission”.
Edmund Bartlett, who chairs the ICOC, conceded that he could not recall a previous occasion in which the committee rejected any recommendation from the IC.
“You are quite correct that, over time, we haven’t, and the reason is not that we didn’t find that there were issues, [but] that, in all of our investigations, we found favour with the recommendations,” Bartlett said at the committee’s last meeting.
However, he argued that, if there were recommendations for which the committee did not find favour, it was the duty of the parliamentary body to ask the commissioners for “better and further particulars so as to assist us in making a decision on the recommendations, and this is the case in this instance”.
“For the benefit of everyone under my chairmanship, we don’t rubber stamp any recommendation,” Bartlett declared.
Government member Marlene Malahoo Forte also took issue with Paulwell’s remarks.
“I do not find it proper, for example, for the committee or the Parliament to exercise a power that is granted to someone else in law.”
She contended that the committee must interrogate whether a recommendation is appropriate against the objects of the law.
There are eight members of the ICOC, including Bartlett, chairman; Juliet Holness; Delroy Chuck; Malahoo Forte; Everald Warmington; Paulwell; Pearnel Charles Jr; and Julian Robinson.