Integrity body going after corrupt officials.
By JULIEN NEAVES (Newsday).
AS it seeks to better combat corruption, the Integrity Commission is proposing new legislative amendments to deal with corrupt officials and colluding third parties that include fines of $500,000 and jail time of ten years.
Commission Deputy Chairman Justice Sebastian Ventour spoke on the amendments yesterday at the Integrity Commission’s presentation of the Integrity in Public Life Amendment Bill held at Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain. The bill contains 26 clauses including Clause 15 which creates the offence of “unjust enrichment”.
“So where a person in public life has a standard of living which is above his present or past emoluments or is in control of property which is not proportionate to his present or past emoluments he commits an offence,” the clause stated.
The penalty for this offence is $500,000 and ten years imprisonment.
Ventour explained, “Today you’re a public official and for some reason you can’t afford to buy a doubles. And after three, four years you’re able to own three, four, five properties. We look at the kind of emoluments of which you are in receipt and we conclude it is almost impossible to be enjoying that standard of living based on your present income (so) there is presumption there that something is not right.
“If you are hiding information that is relevant to the declaration you will be caught and you will be punished,” he said.
He said the Integrity Commission has been viewed as a “toothless bulldog” and an agency with powers under the Act but not given the tools to execute those powers.
“There are lots of things the Commission could do and would like to do but the way the Act is structured it has limited our capacity to act the way we would like to act,” he added.
Ventour said a lot of proposed amendments are because “shrewd” lawyers are making objections at every opportunity and taking them to task, and the Commission was hoping to block the loopholes and make the Act far more effective. He recalled being “appalled” by the reaction of an attorney who represented a witness and who advised his client not to cooperate with the Commission.
He noted that Clause 4 of the bill provide for new definitions — “authorised person” and “corruption”.
On “authorised person”, he noted that a very prominent lawyer who was defending a person told the Commission the individual interviewing his client was not authorised to act on behalf of the Commission.
Ventour said they are also now seeking the right to refer to a third party where there is something unclear or ambiguous in the declaration. He noted that it was proposed that where a third party fails to comply with a request he commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for ten years. There is also an amendment where non-disclosure of property would lead to the forfeiture of property to the State or an amount equivalent to the value of the property. The amendments also prevent someone from vesting their assets in a trust or in another person to avoid declaration. He said he is disgusted when he gets information about people engaged in corruption in the country. “You can run but you cannot hide. We will catch you,” Ventour declared.
During the question and answer session, Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) Stephanie Lewis, who introduced herself as “the infamous Stephanie Lewis,” noted that there were many people “pontificating” on what the CPO can and cannot do. She pointed to amendments requesting information from the CPO but she noted that the CPO would have to source that information from a third party and that section should be reviewed.
One attendee described the measures as too draconian and said the penalties of $500,000 and ten years imprisonment could discourage people from serving on State boards. Commission member Dr Shelly-Anne Lalchan said it was not a “draconian approach” but it was meant to get the minority of non-compliant and non-cooperative persons who fall through loopholes.
New Integrity Commission Chairman Justice Zainool Hosein noted that from the symposium it was clear there is still quite a lot of work to be done by the Commission on the bill and submissions yesterday are to be looked at before submission to the Attorney General.
