IC recommends corruption charges for NIS administrator in Westmoreland
Published:Thursday | December 12, 2024 | 12:11 AM
The Integrity Commission’s (IC’s) director of corruption prosecution (DCP) has recommended that a civil servant employed by the Westmoreland Parish Office of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security be charged with breaching the Corruption Prevention Act.
The DCP, Keisha Prince-Kameka, ruled that Claude McIntosh, National Insurance Scheme (NIS) administrator, be charged with a breach of Section 14(1)(b) of the Corruption Prevention Act following a recommendation from the IC’s Director of Investigation Kevon Stephenson in a 36-page investigation report into the matter.
The report concerns allegations of corruption regarding the recovery of outstanding NIS contributions at the Westmoreland Parish Office of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
The investigation stemmed from an anonymous telephone call to the IC in March 2023 in which a complaint was made against McIntosh.
The complainant noted that in December 2022, he received a telephone call from a man who identified himself as McIntosh and stated that he was associated with the NIS.
McIntosh reportedly advised the complainant that he owed over $500,000 in NIS payments, and he needed to make the payment urgently, otherwise there would be problems.
McIntosh is said to have provided a bank account number for the payment and informed the complainant that if he were to pay the money to the bank account, he would be given a discount of $150,000.
The report said the complainant enquired about being issued a receipt for the payment, and McIntosh advised him that it would take at least two weeks to obtain receipts in Jamaica.
It said the complainant further advised that he was contacted on numerous occasions by McIntosh, by way of email, telephone calls, and WhatsApp, who inquired whether the money had been paid.
Stephenson confirmed that the complainant has outstanding NIS contributions for himself, as a self-employed individual, for $571,083.98, and for the business entity Dream Team Divers, over $29,019.80, as at June 24, 2024.
Further, Stephenson concluded that McIntosh utilised WhatsApp messaging service to provide the complainant with his personal banking information for the payment of his outstanding NIS contributions.
He said the personal banking information that was provided to the complainant by McIntosh was verified to be the accurate details of an active Bank of Nova Scotia account held in his name since 2003.
Stephenson said, “McIntosh acted in contravention of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s National Insurance Scheme Compliance Operations Procedure Manual in respect of his efforts to collect the complainant’s outstanding NIS contributions.”
Stephenson said the conduct of McIntosh amounted to a breach of the Corruption Prevention Act.
He found that McIntosh corruptly solicited money from the complainant with the intent to obtain an illicit benefit for himself.
“This he did by unlawfully providing his personal banking information to the complainant for the complainant to deposit the outstanding NIS contributions therein,” said Stephenson.
He said McIntosh might have improperly used, for his benefit, information obtained from RAIS (Revenue Administration Information System) in the course of the performance of his public duties.
Stephenson recommended that the investigation report be referred to the DCP for a determination to be made as to whether his conduct contravened the Corruption Prevention Act and/or any other applicable law.
He also recommended, among other things, that the matter be referred to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for any applicable internal disciplinary actions to be taken against McIntosh.
Stephenson called for “anyone who has paid monies to, or who has been approached by Mr Claude McIntosh concerning their NIS contributions, to contact his office as soon as practicable”.