NIA welcomes integrity commissions reports and calls for follow-up action

National Integrity Action (NIA) welcomes the tabling in Parliament of two Special Reports of Investigation on Jamaica’s Petrojam oil refinery as well as the Second Annual Report (2019/2020) of the Integrity Commission.

NIA’s statement continues below:

We note with satisfaction that the Annual Report was placed before Parliament within the time required by the Integrity Commission Act and we also commend the professionalism of the Petrojam Reports, produced by the then Director of Investigations, David Grey.

The Special Reports provide evidence to confirm and extend damming allegations regarding Petrojam made during hearings before Parliamentary committees in 2018, as well as findings in the Auditor General’s Report of December 2018. As such, acts of irregularity, impropriety, nepotism, cronyism, and corruption costing tax payers many millions of dollars are documented in these Reports. Arising from this documentation, the Director of Investigations recommended that a number of individuals and matters be refer to the Financial Investigation Division, to the Commissioner of Police and, in the case of Member of Parliament Wheatley, to the Director of Corruption Prosecutions. These recommendations follow on others arising from breaches identified in the Auditor General’s Report.

It is now  full time for action on these recommendations to demonstrate that high public officials are also subject to Law and thereby rekindle hope in the rule of law, now declining amongst large sections of our people.

NIA therefore urges the Integrity Commission to state what action shall be taken in relation to the recommendations made in the special reports. Hitherto, the Commission would have regarded itself as prohibited from comment under Section 53 (3) of the Integrity Commission Act. Now that the Reports have been tabled, we believe it is appropriate that the Commission makes a public statement on action to be taken in relation to the Reports..

Secondly, we urge that the Oversight Committee appointed by Parliament to review the work of the Commission begin its sittings as a matter of urgency. In so doing we strongly recommend that the Oversight Committee, among other things, consider and accept the amendments proposed by the Integrity Commission to the Integrity Act and to other relevant legislation. In particular, NIA urges the Oversight Committee to accept the Commission’s proposal that Section 53 (3) of the Integrity Commission Act be amended to vest the Commissioners with authority to comment on investigations as they deem it necessary. Without such a discretion transparency in the Commission’s investigative work is completely absent and the public left in the dark, thereby incapacitated from coming forward with information helpful to an investigation.

We also support amendments, as proposed by the Commissioners, to the Public Procurement Act to “explicitly require decertification, debarment and cross debarment of government contractors who engage in fraudulent practices or who consistently fail to perform their contracts to the required standards.”

We also support the recommendation that Sentencing Guidelines relating to corruption offences be strengthened.

Finally, we agree with the Commissioners and request the Oversight Committee to concur that the statutory declarations required by members of Parliament include disclosure of directorships and beneficial interests in corporate bodies, as well as any contracts with the Government of Jamaica.

Prompt and effective action by the Integrity Commission, Parliamentary Oversight Committee and other anti-corruption agencies can contribute, following the convictions of the corrupt arising from the Manchester Municipal Corporation trial can contribute to strengthening integrity in the Jamaican society, enhance accountability, as well as help to change the perception amongst the majority of our people that government is not doing enough to combat corruption.

We encourage all well-thinking Jamaicans as well as private sector and civil society bodies to support the call for action.