Crime forces Board members to blank Integrity Commission

With the increasing criminal activity in Trinidad and Tobago, more and more members of State Boards are opting not to file declarations with the Integrity Commission, as required by law. Sources said last week, that some of these individuals who are Board members on long established state enterprises and authorities have reported that they have received legal advice from counsel that they are not required to file such declarations because  “grey areas” in the law preclude them from having to declare their assets and liabilities. Informed sources told Sunday Newsday that  many Board members — who  are naturally reluctant to expose their financial affairs, have become increasingly averse to doing so, in the context of the escalating crime situation. Sources stated that some Board members have taken the view that they are not prepared to risk revealing these details (especially in return for  compensation packages ranging between $2,000 and $7,000 a month).

The declaration to the Integrity Commission requires the person in public life to itemise all their assets and liabilities. According to the law all Commissioners at the Integrity Commission as well as staff members  are required to take an oath of secrecy and are criminally liable if found to be in breach. However concerns about confidentiality remain. The Integrity Commission in its last report — the 17th Annual Report to Parliament, tabled in April of this year, pointed out that although the Integrity in Public Life sought to set out in the Schedule the persons to whom the law applies, “judging from the number of enquiries to the Commission there seems still to be some uncertainty as to who are persons in public life”. The Commission suggested in the Report that the law be amended to 1) identify the public offices, the holders of which are persons in public life; 2) to specify which statutory or public bodies, the Board Members of which are persons in public life.

The Commission also expressed the view that “it may also be useful if in the letters of appointment of persons to those offices or Boards, it is clearly stated that upon appointment, the appointee becomes a person in public life within the meaning of the Integrity in Public Life Act, 2000.” Sources said that the trend of not filing declarations has been exacerbated by the formation of new State Enterprises and the failure of Government to inform the Commisson of these new companies and their membership. Some of these new companies include the Education Facilities Limited, Community Improvement Services Limited, Estate Management and Business Development Company Limited, The Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited and the Rural Development Company Limited of Trinidad and Tobago.

Sources said the Commission had been wrestling with the questions of who was accountable for informing new state organisations and their board members of the requirement to file declarations as well as which government agency was responsible for informing the Integrity Commission of the creation  of any new state body. Informed government sources however countered that there was no obligation to inform  board members of the new state enterprises of their obligation to file declarations since the existing legislation provided a sufficient description of the institutions captured under the law  and that the definition in the law held whether old or new. Stressing that the Integrity Commission needed to be more proactive, these  source argued that the Commission could very easily  obtain the necessary  information with respect to the new state companies formed, and their board members, as such information is carried in the public domain and is gazetted.

Sources stated that another complication was the fact that no member of the judiciary had filed a declaration. This, despite the fact that the promise made by Government to have the law amended to exclude members of the judiciary, has not been enacted. As it now stands members of the judiciary, whose function is it to safeguard the law, are in breach of the law. Sources have said that given the fact that a former Prime Minister (Basdeo Panday) and a former minister (Finbar Gangar) are currently before the courts for failure to declare certain assets, it would appear that the Commission is only taking action against persons who have made incomplete declarations rather against persons who have made no declaration at all. Last week Commission sources described the whole issue of the filing of declaration as a “pandora’s box”.

According to the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000 the Schedule of persons in public life are Members of the House of Representatives, ministers of Government, Parliamentary Secretaries, members of the Tobago House of Assembly, members of municipalities, members of Local Government Authorities, Senators, Judges and Magistrates appointed by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission, members of the Boards of all state bodies and state enterprises, including those bodies in which the State has a controlling interest, permanent secretaries and chief technical officers.