Integrity forms for Parliament soon

THE prescribed declaration forms under the Integrity in Public Life Act Regulations 2001 are expected to be laid in Parliament “soon.” However that will only happen if  no modifications are made when the new Commissioners of the Integrity Commission (IC) peruse the form. That was the view of Attorney General Glenda Morean when questioned about the delay in the laying of the forms. The new Commission was sworn in last Wednesday by President George Maxwell Richards. Its Chairman is Gordon Deane, a former member of the Commission. Agreeing there was a delay in laying the forms, Morean said it was incorrect to say that the forms were ready since 2001. “That is not correct. The forms are done by the Commission and they were done somewhere in December 2002. “They were sent to the CPC (Chief Parliamentary Counsel) then to Cabinet and referred to the Legislative Review Committee. In the interim, an exercise had been ongoing with respect to overhauling the whole system we had in place to deal with corruption, and as I said before, we had a consultant who did some work, submitted a report and made certain recommendations which are presently before Cabinet for consideration.”

Morean reiterated that the recommendations of UK consultant Bertrand de Spelville was to set up a new Anti-Corruption Commis-sion or “re-engineer and refashion” the IC. Asked whether the option meant that the current IC will be scrapped, Morean said “not necessarily, not at all.” She maintained that the position was not contrary to anything she had said before, stressing, “we are looking at the alternatives.” Asked whether the IC will remain despite whatever option chosen, Morean said, “yes I would think so, whatever we decide we may still have an IC, I am not saying ‘will’ I am saying ‘may’.”