Jamaica’s Integrity Commission has sounded a warning that parliamentarians and other public officials will be automatically referred for prosecution, commencing with the statutory declarations to be filed for the period as at December 31 this year.

The move comes despite what the Integrity Commission acknowledged was a “gradual increase” in compliance this year as, up to September, just two of the 107 parliamentarians had outstanding declarations and declarations had been received from more than 27,000 public officials.

The 27,056 statutory declarations received from public officials for 2020, as at September 30, 2021, represents a 66.89 per cent compliance rate, moving from a compliance rate of 58 per cent as at March 31, 2021.

“Notwithstanding the gradual increase in the compliance rate since March 31, 2021, the Commission remains concerned that 13,393 statutory declarations from declarants remain outstanding for 2020,” the Integrity Commission said in a Special Report to Parliament on the Status of Statutory Declarations, tabled in the House of Representatives yesterday (November 2).

“In this regard, the Commission has commenced the process of preparing files for outstanding declarants to be referred for prosecution. Declarants are therefore encouraged to submit all outstanding statutory declarations to avoid being referred for prosecution.”

The Commission appealed to declarants that, as the 2021 statutory declaration intake draws near, they should submit their 2021 Statutory Declaration early, using the decentralised mechanism which will be established within their respective public body.

“Going forward, commencing with the statutory declarations to be filed for the period as at December 31, 2021, once the submission date ends, declarants will be automatically referred for prosecution.”

The special report was prepared after several matters were raised during an October 14 meeting of Parliament’s Integrity Commission Oversight Committee, during which the Integrity Commission’s 2018 and 2019 annual reports were reviewed and the Commission’s executive director Greg Christie was grilled by committee members.

The Commission said it wanted to use the special report to clarify several matters that had been raised during the meeting with regard to statutory declarations, “as it was evident that there may have been some misunderstandings”.

In addition to the status of statutory declaration compliance, the special report looked at:

• Amendments to the Third Schedule of the Integrity Commission Act, 2017 proposed by the Integrity Commission,
• The purpose of the Voluntary Declaration Form under Section 7 of the Voluntary Declarations Act and Section 39 of the Integrity Commission Act, 2017, which is appended to the proposed amendments to the Third Schedule of the Integrity Commission Act, 2017; and
• Initiation letter sent to declarants at the commencement of the examination process, pursuant to Sections 32 and 42 of the Integrity Commission Act, 2017.