Chairman of the Integrity Commission Kumar Duraisami said there are still some 716 public officials who have not submitted their declarations to the Commission.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Duraisami pointed out that a total of 1306 declaration forms were sent out to public officials and so far, only 590 submissions have been made.
Chairman of the Integrity Commission Kumar Duraisami along with Commissioner Rosemary Benjamin-Noble to the left and Commission Secretary Amanda Jaisingh at Wednesday’s press conference
According to the Chairman, they have since published five lists of the various categories of public officials who are yet to make their declarations. He added that there are two more lists – Finance Ministry and Judiciary – to be published.
Duraisami explained that the publication of these names seems to be effective since more defaulters have been filing their declarations after their names were made public, a process that is catered for in the Integrity Commission Act.
“These publications were very effective because the public found it astonishing that, since its existence, the Commission had the courage to publish the names of defaulters,” the Chairman stated.
He went on to outline that from the first published list of 87 public officials, 41 still have not made any submissions; from 80 in the second list, there are still 19 outstanding; from 86 from the third list, 73 are yet to make declarations; from 159 names in the fourth list, 132 are still to submit and from 66 in the fifth list, 50 officials are yet to make their declarations.
The Chairman noted that while there is a need for awareness on the Integrity Commission, most public officials have a general idea of the Commission’s functions and their obligations. But there are some, he contended, who are willfully withholding declaring their assets to the Commission.
“Sometimes people think it’s a big jokery. We’re not concerned about the private person, people who hold public offices must be accountable to the people who pay them their monies… We are asking those public officers, it is in their interest to make this declarations. If they don’t make these declarations to the Commission, the Commission will not be in the position to secure their integrity,” Duraisami implored.
However, he noted that there are some defaulting officers, particularly in the Judiciary, who are questioning whether the function of the Commission is infringing on their constitutional rights by publishing their names.
“I am in no position or this Commission is in no position to use a discretion as to whether or not we should publish the names. If they think that they ought not to make their declarations to the Commission then they can go the court and say ‘my position is secured by the Constitution and I’m not obliged or obligated to submit to the Commission’… This Commission has no discretion. We will have to publish their names if they don’t submit,” the Chairman insisted.
Duraisami further posited, however, that before the Commission can go after those who did not make their declaration, they first have to publish their names. While five lists have already been published, the Commission still needs investigators to look into the defaulters.
“Once we have the investigative officers, we will be fully armed to go after those declarants, some of whom got their declarations done but they don’t put in all they ought to put in. We have to ensure that they comply fully with the law and if they don’t then the next stage is what the law recommends. Prosecution,” he stated.
With such staff, the Chairman said, steps are being taken to recruit five investigators, noting that there may be need for additional ones in the future. However, he noted that with a meagre budget of $45 million approved, there is a lot that needs to be done including training of the Commission’s staff.
“This is not sufficient to run this organisation at full capacity. We need approximately $86 million so that we can cater to all eventualities… We have to hire investigative officers so we may have to apply for a supplemental budget in order to accommodate these and other expenditures,” he asserted.
