THE MONTHLY GLEANER | FEBRUARY 20 - MARCH 22, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 3 Items needed: MOTHER SEEKING DONATION FOR A NURSERY Please contact me at 876-295-7749 High Chairs Play Pens Baby Mats Toys Tablets Etc. Kimone Francis/ Senior Staff Reporter AT LEAST one member of the oversight committee of the Integrity Commission has said that the commissioners have questions to answer following the delayed release of a ruling that exonerated Prime Minister Andrew Holness from conflict-of-interest allegations. JULIAN ROBINSON, an opposition member on the committee, suggested that, if commissioners had the opinion of Director of Corruption Prosecution Keisha Prince-Kameka, it should have been presented at the same time the report was tabled in Parliament. The report, which was tabled last Tuesday, detailed the findings of an investigation into the award of more than 40 government contracts totalling approximately $57 million toWestcon Construction Limited, whose directors were Robert Garvin and Donovan Simpson. Holness admitted to knowing the two men for more than 20 years but said that only Garvin is known to him “personally”. The Integrity Commission referred the report implicating Holness in an alleged conflict of interest to PrinceKameka after it concluded that he may have influenced the awarding of the contracts to the company of Garvin, his business associate. Holness has denied the allegations, insisting he made the recommendations “in good faith” and that it was a convention of parliamentarians. Prince-Kameka subsequently ruled that no charges would be preferred against Holness. The director of corruption prosecution, in her ruling dated January 12, 2023, said that additional material was made available that investigations failed to contradict or prove more evidence in support of the offences contemplated. “No criminal charges can be laid,” she said. The ruling was released a month after it was prepared and submitted, and two days after the report implicating Holness was tabled. “There are questions about the release of the information in the tabling of documents in Parliament because I think, if people knew at the time of the tabling that there was already an opinion that there’d be no prosecution, then maybe they would have had a different perspective on the issue,”Robinson told The Gleaner on Thursday. “I do think this warrants an explanation from them as to the timing of the report and then the opinion, and, fromwhat we’re seeing now, it appears as if both things were in hand at the same time or before. There’s obviously a delay in the release of the opinion, which obviously influenced how we would have responded to the report,” he added. Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, who sits on the committee as a government member, said that “it is quite clear” that the review commission examining the Integrity Commission Act should meet in the shortest possible time. “We need to examine the provision of the Integrity Commission and how it is behaving,” he said. Chairman of the committee, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, said that there is a possibility that the issue may come up for discussion at the next committee, though an agenda has already been set. He declined to say whether the committee will summon commissioners to answer questions on the matter. Edmond Campbell/ Senior Parliamentary Reporter SENIOR CABINET minister Delroy Chuck is calling for swift action against the “responsible” person(s) at the Integrity Commission (IC) who caused the tabling of a report referring Prime Minister Andrew Holness for a corruption probe despite having prior knowledge of his exoneration. LAST THURSDAY, Keisha PrinceKameka, the director of corruption prosecution, ruled that no charges would be preferred against the prime minister. The justice minister is not alone in his call for the sacking of commission officials as he has received support from Jeanette Calder, executive director of the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP). The anti-corruption campaigner told The Gleaner Thursday evening that after the tabling of the investigation report on Tuesday, the ruling should have been published on the same day once the commission had complied with Section 53(3), often labelled the ‘gag clause’. She has demanded that the anti-corruption watchdog conduct a probe into the presumed faux pas. An incensed Chuck told The Gleaner that he was “extremely annoyed and disappointed that the Integrity Commission could allow a report to be tabled knowing full well that a month before the report exonerated the prime minister”. Prince-Kameka’s rul ing was dated January 12, 2023, while the investigation report by Kevon Stephenson was sent to Parliament on February 13 and tabled a day later. However, Parliament did not release the report until February 15. The ruling was published on Thursday, February 16. ‘DELETERIOUS EFFECT’ “The Integrity Commission must be aware that this report would have a deleterious effect not only in Jamaica, but across the world. It must be obvious to them that the decision that would have made the report benign was available and then a day after an instruction was given by the commission’s chairman to release the decision,” Chuck said. “It brings into question what could have happened and why a report was tabled when there is a decision on the report, and as far as I am concerned, heads must roll,” he insisted. The justice minister said that Cabinet ministers and members of parliament are peeved by the commission’s action. “I am very disappointed, and as far as I am concerned, heads must roll because what took place over the last two days where the reputation of the leader of this country was brought into disrepute, not only nationally but internationally, someone must take responsibility.” Calder also questioned the anticorruption body’s decision to tweet media reports on its website and social media regarding the report while having knowledge of the unpublished ruling. The JAMP executive director said there had been communication “via the social-media timeline of the commission and there had been communication via the timeline of the executive director after it was tabled that did not suggest that they knew that the prime minister was exonerated”. Calder also flagged the commission’s tweeting of a Gleaner article which said that the “PNP is appalled by the Holness conflict-of-interest allegation”. “It is hard to believe that the Integrity Commission was making those posts knowing that the prime minister was not going to be put before the courts,” she said. However, executive director of the commission, Greg Christie, said that once the director of investigations and the director of corruption prosecutions complete their report and ruling, respectively, they go to the commissioners the same day, most times within an hour. Explaining the process, Christie said that once the investigative report has been completed, it is submitted to the commissioners through the executive director on the same day. He said that he “is a conduit” and does not read reports and rulings preliminarily but hands them directly to the commissioners. Christie said that he read the Director of Investigations Kevon Stephenson-authored report on Holness for the first time on Wednesday. Christie said that the commissioners instruct all the directors with the exception of the director of corruption prosecution. Prince-Kameka also made a ruling in relation to a possible breach of Section 29 of the then Contractor General’s Act in which the Ministry of Education, the National Works Agency, and the Social Development Commission failed to submit quarterly contract reports of contracts awarded to Westcon Construction Limited to the then Office of the Contractor General. Prince-Kameka ruled that although evidence has been identified sufficient to mount charges for the noted offences, the prosecution would be hardpressed to resist the abuse of process application with regard to undue delay. Turning to a recommendation that Dr Dwayne Vernon, head of the Social Development Commission, allegedly wilfully made a false statement to mislead the contractor general and, therefore, breached Section 29 of the Contractor General’s Act, the director of corruption prosecution said“the evidence does not reveal prima facie case with a realistic prospect of conviction in relation to the alleged offence, therefore, no criminal charges are being recommended in respect of this offence”. edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com ‘Heads must roll’ Jeanette Calder, executive director of JAMP. Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck. Chuck, Calder call for accountability in Holness ruling controversy Commissioners must explain timing of ruling – Robinson
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