‘Nobody is above the law’

A local business lobby and the island’s main civil service union say the principle of regular government workers being sent on leave or suspended to facilitate probes should be applied to six yet-unnamed lawmakers being investigated for illicit enrichment.

At a meeting of the Integrity Commission (IC) Oversight Committee on July 25, St Andrew South East Member of Parliament Julian Robinson enquired whether the parliamentarians being investigated had been notified by the anti-corruption body.

In a response emailed to members of the committee last week – a copy of which was seen by The Sunday Gleaner – IC Director of Investigations Kevon Stephenson said: “All declarants who are being investigated for illicit enrichment must be so advised. Declarants under such an investigation, must, by law, be given an opportunity to explain how they came by their assets.”

President of the MSME Alliance, Donovan Wignal, said the six should declare themselves and take a break from their responsibilities of presiding over the highest lawmaking body of the land until the investigation is completed.

“What would be the justification for not doing that? Nobody is above the law. They (lawmakers) should be treated in a similar fashion,” he said, noting that other public sector workers faced with similarly serious accusations are usually sent on leave.

“If the investigation vindicates the person being investigated,” Wignal added, “then I suppose that’s something to consider. But those considerations have to be the same at the bottom of the scale as well as the top. My advocacy is to ensure equity across the scale. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. We want equity in the treatment of different employees at different levels. Nobody should be above the law.”

The MSME Alliance is a network of business organisations representing more than 300,000 micro, small and medium-size enterprises.

‘DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD’

The Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), which represents more than 30,000 government employees, is singing the same tune, noting that several of its members, over the years, have been relieved of their responsibilities while being investigated, whether internally at their agency or by other national authorities.

“Remember, once a public sector worker is being investigated, that person either has to go on interdiction or be removed from office until the investigation is completed. The same should apply to everybody, whether you are a politician or not,” said Techa Clarke-Griffiths, president of the JCSA.

She added: “We are one Jamaica. Why should one set of persons be treated different from the others? ... We should be treated the same way. Not because you are lawmakers means that you have a different law that supports you. It’s the same thing that applies to both.”

In interviews with our newsroom, accountability campaigners Jeanette Calder and Danielle Archer – who head the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal and the National Integrity Action, respectively – both called for the parliamentarians under probe to reveal themselves.

Yesterday, Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica President Metry Seaga said the issue is a “double-edged sword” as, while he understands the concerns of organisations like the JCSA, there are other perspectives to consider.

“Those that are being investigated, whilst I would love to know who they are and see them step down until the investigation is over, it’s not as simple as that,” he said.

Seaga argued: “In Jamaica, I guess everywhere in the world, people tend to taint those that are being investigated with the brush of guilty even before we know what the truth is, and some people are stained because of it. So we have to be careful of that as well.”

“It’s a difficult call … , but, the truth is, this is something coming, it’s not going, and we’re going to find out sooner or later. And those that are found to be guilty should be made to pay,” the PSOJ head said.

The IC’s gag clause blocks it from naming subjects or commenting on investigations until a report is tabled in the Parliament. Such a provision does not apply to other investigative bodies such as the Financial Investigations Division, the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency and the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

The background to the IC’s revelation through its annual report for the period ending March 2023 was weeks of attacks on it by lawmakers, mainly from the Government side.

“The commission has demonstrated a certain bias, a certain unfairness, which demonstrates that this Integrity Commission lacks integrity,” declared Justice Minister Delroy Chuck. His colleague minister, Everald Warmington, has slammed the entity as being “rogue”.

Government Member of Parliament Robert Montague, who claims he has heard of the IC’s plans to raid his house, has accused the commission of targeting him and being unfair in responding to his concerns about a report critical of his approval of gun licences when he was security minister. The commission amended a report clearing Peter Bunting, an opposition senator, of any wrongdoing in granting licences when he was security minister.

STOP THE ‘CASS-CASS’

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, whose 2021 income and liabilities remain uncleared, has urged his colleagues to avoid the “cass-cass” with the commission and use parliamentary avenues to address concerns they have about the commission.

In February, the commission was accused of mishandling the communication of a report that implicated Holness in a conflict-of-interest case back when he was education minister in 2008. A ruling that was ready when the report was tabled but was not published until almost 48 hours after the report, which generated global headlines. The ruling said the matter should not be pursued against the head of government.

The annual report, tabled in the parliament on July 11, indicated that illicit enrichment probes were opened against six lawmakers and 28 other public officials. It is not clear whether those public officials have disclosed their status and whether any is off the job.

Section 14 (5) (a) and (b) of the Corruption Prevention Act states that illicit enrichment happens where a public servant owns assets disproportionate to his lawful earnings; and, upon being requested by the commission or any person duly authorised to investigate an allegation of corruption against him, to provide an explanation as to how he came by such assets. If he fails to do so; or gives an explanation which is not considered to be satisfactory, he shall be liable to prosecution for the offence of illicit enrichment.

The law states that it shall be a defence to a person charged with an offence of illicit enrichment to show the court that he came by the assets by lawful means.

editorial@gleanerjm.com

NOTABLE PAST CASES

Some notable cases of public officials who were sent on leave, interdicted or took voluntary leave of absence arising from various investigations involving them:

– July 2023: Chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation Corporal Rohan James was interdicted following strong statements he made against the Police High Command at a recent funeral.

– February 2023: Three senior officials of the HEART/NSTA Trust were suspended with full pay to facilitate internal investigation. Novelette Denton Prince, senior director, corporate services and former acting managing director; Oneke Dixon, manager, human resource management; and Sonia Ingleton, senior manager, human resource management, were sent on leave.

– January 2022: Three senior personnel in charge of a National Health Fund warehouse cold room were sent on leave while police probed breakdown of the facility that was storing more than 900,000 COVID-19 doses of vaccine.

– April 2021: MP George Wright took voluntary leave of absence from the House of Representatives over allegations of domestic abuse.

– December 2021: Deputy Head of Planning Shawn Martin and Assistant Building Surveyor Calvet Sutherland, at the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation, were sent on leave with full pay, effective December 2021. Local Government Services Commission said the two officers would remain off the job until investigations are held into building and planning approvals given by the KSAMC.

– October 2021: Dr Grace McLean was sent on leave in the wake of an investigation launched by the Financial Investigations Division and the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency over $124 million unaccounted-for payouts to the Cecil Cornwall-chaired Joint Committee on Tertiary Education. She was interdicted in January 2022.

– July 2019: President of the Caribbean Maritime University Professor Fritz Pinnock took voluntary leave amid corruption investigations involving former Minister of Education Ruel Reid, the education ministry and the university. Reid, after stepping down as minister, was subsequently sent on leave from his then substantive job as principal of Jamaica College, to facilitate the investigations. Pinnock is no longer president and he and Reid were subsequently charged. JLP Councillor Kim Brown Lawrence is also charged in the matter.

– May 2019: Senior Superintendent of Police Terrence Bent was sent on leave to facilitate an investigation at the now-disbanded Mobile Reserve.

– May 2018: Three employees of Kingston Public Hospital were suspended to allow a probe into allegations of the improper disposal of the remains of neonates.

– January 2017: Then principal of the St Elizabeth-based Hampton School, Heather Murray, was sent on two weeks’ leave over actions in the Moravian Church sex scandal.

– August 2013: Then managing director of the National Housing Trust, Cecile Watson, was sent on leave to facilitate a probe at the agency.