Amid the Integrity Commission’s report on alleged acts of impropriety involving former national security minister Peter Bunting, the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) is of the view that nothing revealed in the 245-page special investigation has indicated his decisions being “flawed or improper”.

The PNP, in a terse statement on Saturday (March 12) after a rebuff by Bunting a day following the report’s public, said the senator’s outlining of facts surrounding the two cases in question concluded that his decisions, at the time, were within the “proper exercise of ministerial authority”.

“The details reinforced that the decisions were made in the proper exercise of his ministerial authority, considering the facts before him, and the recommendations of the review panel,” the PNP statement read.

“Given the outcome of the investigations by the Integrity Commission, and the additional details provided by Mr Bunting, there is no question of the two decisions being in any manner tainted by corruption or improper motive. There is nothing that has come to light that suggests that the decisions were flawed or improper, and we are guided by due process,” the opposition added.

The PNP’s statement appears to be a direct dismissal of human rights lobby Jamaicans for Justice, which recommended Bunting be asked to “relinquish official duties within the Senate pending further investigations.”

Bunting, current opposition spokesperson on national security and Robert Montague’s predecessor in that ministry, is one of three high-level public officials implicated in the Integrity Commission’s special report of investigation.

In his reply to the damning report, Bunting argued that the two instances of serious irregularities at the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) were “out of hundreds of cases that I would have reviewed during the four years I was the Minister of National Security”.

Bunting, who has threatened lawsuits over media coverage which he deems “defamatory”, insists that while as minister he acted either in accordance with the FLA Review Board’s recommendations or more conservatively.

Montague has since resigned from the Andrew Holness-led administration effective Friday, March 11.

The other accused official, Dennis Meadows, former deputy FLA chairman, also resigned from Government boards with immediate effect.

Meadows has, however, denied any wrongdoing, slammed what he called ‘scapegoatism’ and has vowed to “defend his good name”.

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