ST CYR BOWS OUT

St Cyr resigned by letter to the President on Tuesday and in a media release issued yesterday morning, the President said he has accepted St Cyr’s resignation. This came just over a week after Udecott chairman Jearlean John called for St Cyr’s resignation and threatened legal action after St Cyr incorrectly and prematurely told a reporter that the commission had started an investigation into her on September 30.

“The Office of the President advises that, by letter dated 11th October, 2011 to His Excellency the President, Dr Eric St Cyr tendered his resignation as chairman of the Integrity Commission, which was accepted,” the release said.

“In accordance with Section II, subsections 6 (1) and (2) of the Integrity in Public Life Act No 83 of 2000, amended by 88 of 2000, the resignation of Dr St Cyr took effect immediately.”

“His Excellency wishes to thank Dr St Cyr for having accepted the offer to serve and for the contribution made during his tenure of almost nineteen months.” The release gave no details of the reasons St Cyr offered for his resignation.

Contacted yesterday by Newsday St Cyr appeared dazed.

“I don’t know what to say my brother,” he said. “I really don’t want to say anything to the press. I would just like to leave it as it is, I mean no disrespect.” Pressed further on the reasons for his resignation, St Cyr said, “I don’t have anything to say at this stage. I don’t want to say anything, sir.”

St Cyr’s reticence to comment was in contrast with conduct which brought him, and his office, into disapprobrium over the last several months.

On September 30, St Cyr reportedly told a reporter that the commission had received a complaint in relation to John and that the commission was investigating it.

However a Newsday investigation now casts doubt over St Cyr’s statement to the reporter. Checks have unearthed information that the Integrity Commission had not, in fact, begun any investigation into John when St Cyr told a reporter on September 30 that the commission was investigating a complaint.

In fact, the commission only decided to investigate a complaint in relation to John on October 3, two days after St Cyr spoke to the reporter. Additionally, at the time that the question was put to St Cyr by the reporter, the commission had taken a decision to defer consideration of whether the complaint would be investigated at all to a later date.

On the afternoon of October 3, after deciding for the first time to investigate the complaint against John, the commission had to rush a letter to John. The letter, which was delivered to John’s Udecott office at Sackville Street, Port-of-Spain, informed her of the investigation, a full three days after it had been carried in a cover-story in the press. The letter, which was subject to what has been described lax scrutiny at the commission, did not disclose the details of the complaint against John as well as the name of the person who had lodged the complaint. Hours earlier on October 3, before receiving the commission’s letter, John had written the commission calling on St Cyr to resign immediately. It later emerged in a Newsday report of October 6 that some members of the commission had deep concerns over St Cyr’s repeated statements to the media that embarrassed the commission and that commissioners had, prior to September 30, warned St Cyr over such conduct after two other incidents in relation to other matters before the commission.

On October 6, one day after President George Maxwell-Richards returned to the country from vacation, Newsday reported that the complaints raised in John’s letter had been despatched to the Office of the President. It later emerged that John’s letter to the Integrity Commission of October 3 was copied to the Office of the President and hand-delivered on October 3. The letter calling for St Cyr’s resignation should have been addressed to the President.

Newsday also reported on October 7 that St Cyr did not attend an awards function in his honour. An editorial published in Newsday on the same day concluded, “Lamentably we must conclude after his recent disclosure, that Dr St Cyr’s ad libs, his indiscretion, his breach of norms and his unilateral action disqualify him from his post.”

It was not known whether the President met with or held discussions with St Cyr prior to his resignation.

St Cyr met with his fellow commissioners for the last time on Monday at the Integrity Commission’s offices at Independence Square, Port-of-Spain. It is understood that at that meeting, St Cyr defended his conduct and insisted that he had done no wrong. But reports reveal that some commissioners did not agree with him.

There were reports yesterday that St Cyr claimed to have been caught off-guard when he was questioned during his Friday morning breakfast on September 30 over the issue of the complaint against John. St Cyr was urged by at least one commissioner to not tender his resignation. Two commissioners, however, pointed out that the chairman had done damage to the commission, which comprises the chairman and four commissioners.

As pressure mounted on St Cyr however, he wrote the President on Tuesday, offering his resignation. St Cyr yesterday declined to tell Newsday what caused his apparent about-face.

The remaining members of the commission are: Gladys Gafoor (deputy chairman), Seunarine Jokhoo (member), Neil Rolingson (member), and Professor Ann-Marie Bissessar (member). The deputy chairman would normally be called upon to perform the functions of chairman in the absence of a chairman.

St Cyr’s resignation now triggers the daunting prospect of a search for a new chairman of the Integrity Commission. Section 4 (4) of the Integrity in Public Life Act notes that the chairman is appointed by the President after consultation with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition.

The furore over St Cyr, which was described by Attorney General Anand Ramlogan yesterday as “the straw that broke the camel’s back” was the latest in a string of controversies involving comments by St Cyr to the media.

St Cyr’s resignation is also the latest in a string of resignations in the top post at the commission, going back to the resignation of former chairman Gordon Deane. After a series of retired judges had held the post, Deane, a former top insurance company executive, was appointed chairman in 2003 in the face of objections to potential conflicts between the post and his previous life in commercial practice. Deane’s tenure later ended on August 12, 2006. He was succeeded by John Martin, another businessman.

On February 5, 2009, the John Martin-led commission resigned after the High Court ruled that the commission demonstrated “bad faith” and was guilty of the tort of misfeasance after it referred a complaint in relation to Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, without giving Rowley a chance to respond to the complaint against him.

The commission had, on August 7, 2006, decided to send the matter to the DPP after a meeting attended by: Martin, the then deputy chairman who later became the chairman; commissioners Justice Monica Barnes SC, Justice Ralph Narine and Terrance Martins. The then outgoing chairman, Deane, was absent from the meeting.

The resignation of the John Martin-led commission triggered a constitutional vacuum, with some noting a delay in the appointment of a new commission which caused complaints on matters raised during the PNM administration to build up.

Amid threats of legal action against the Office of the President over the delay, a new commission, led by Roman Catholic priest Fr Henry Charles, was appointed by the President on May 1, 2009, four months after the February 2009 resignation.

Charles later resigned a mere week later, citing church laws but also amid a plagiarism scandal in relation his newspaper column in the Trinidad Guardian. The entire commission eventually quit with some members resigning after it emerged that one was not legally eligible to act as a commissioner and with another commissioner alleging being misled by the President.

Staff at the Integrity Commission’s offices yesterday expressed shock over St Cyr’s resignation.

“I cannot believe it,” one official said, “not another one.” John yesterday said the resignation of St Cyr was a vindication but called for a probe of St Cyr’s tenure.