Guilty by report?

JUSTICE Minister Delroy Chuck has questioned whether the Integrity Commission’s (IC’s) practice of publicly identifying categories of people whose matters have been referred to it could fuel perceptions of corruption, even when those matters do not result in findings of wrongdoing.

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting of Parliament’s Integrity Commission Oversight Committee, Chuck argued that reporting such figures could create an impression of widespread corruption even when investigations might not lead to charges.

“You must say how many investigations you have started and so on, but when you start, if you see in your report that you’re investigating permanent secretaries, you have… 18 or so permanent secretaries, even if you have three where you’re investigating, all of them come under scrutiny, and so when you say you’re investigating six, nine parliamentarians, every single one of us come under scrutiny,” he expressed.