Integrity Commission to pursue prosecutions next year – Chairman

…Guyana Times offers free publication of defaulters

The Integrity Commission is committed to pursuing prosecution against officials in public offices – a significant portion of whom are still delinquent in declaring their assets to the Commission. This is according to Chairman of the Commission, Kumar Duraisami, who told  Guyana Times on Wednesday that the Commission is “definitely going ahead” with the prosecution of defaulters but noted that they first want to send reminders before doing so.

He could not say how many defaulters there currently are, explaining that this number keeps changing every day whenever these officials make submissions. However, Duraisami noted that when the Commission meets in January 2020 for its first statutory meeting, a final list of delinquents will be determined before moving ahead.
A few months ago, Duraisami had disclosed that despite a two-month extension to the June 30 deadline, less than half of the declaration forms that were sent out were filled out and returned. He noted that some 1137 forms were distributed but only 396 were received after the August 31 extended deadline.
Among the defaulters are a majority of the Members of Parliament from both the Government and Opposition. Back in May, the Commission had flagged some 716 public officials for failing to make their declarations including President David Granger and some members of his Cabinet.
Over the past months, the Commission has complained that inadequate financial resources have hampered its ability to carry out its mandate effectively, especially with regards to publishing the names of defaulters.
Guyana Times reached out to the Commission a while ago and offered to publish the list of delinquent officials free of cost. This newspaper was told officially write the Commission on the offer.
However, the Chairman told this publication that the Commission will have to meet to discuss this matter and as such, he cannot make any commitments.
According to the Integrity Commission Act, all public officers in high office are required to file declarations of their assets as well as those held by their spouses and children. The law states that any public officer who fails to comply with the Commission is liable upon summary conviction, to a fine of $25,000 and imprisonment for a period of no less than six months or more than one year.
For 2019, the Commission since published five lists of the various categories of public officials defaulted in making their declarations. Chief among the defaulters was President David Granger himself. Others on the lists were sitting Government ministers, Members of Parliament and a number of high-ranking Government officials.