PNP accepts Integrity Commission findings against Councillor Ian Bell

The People’s National Party (PNP) has accepted the Integrity Commission’s findings that Councillor Ian Bell should have recused himself from deliberations involving his wife’s application for space at the Ocho Rios Transportation Centre in St Ann.

In a statement, the PNP said the findings represented a breach of good governance and acknowledged that Bell, despite declaring that the applicant was his wife, “should have recused himself and ought not to have been in attendance”.

The party said it had long maintained that elected and non-elected officials must declare personal interests and remove themselves from consideration of matters in which a real or perceived conflict of interest could arise.