MEMBERS OF the Senate last Friday recommended that the Government establish one commission under the Corruption Prevention Act to investigate both public servants and parliamentarians.
The proposal came during a debate on 'Prevention of Corruption (Remuneration) Resolution, 2003', piloted by Senator A.J. Nicholson. The resolution sought to have the Chairman and members of the commission receive remuneration through a monthly salary.
The suggestion was first made by Opposition Senator Bruce Golding who pointed out, "initially when the Commission was being established, I could not then and now appreciate the necessity for two separate commission, to have one commission dealing with 15,000 public officers and to have a separate Commission dealing with 81 Parliamentarians does not to me make sense".
He said that initially, the legal requirements and the application of law differed with the Public Services Commission and the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption.
"In the case of the public officers, they were liable to being referred to the Director of Public Prosecution if they failed to either submit their Declara-tions or to provide information that was lawfully required of them. That did not apply to Parliamentarians at that time and in the case of Parliamen-tarians, the power of the Integrity Commission stopped at reporting the Parliamentarians... and it was for them to decide whether they chose to refer it to the Director of Public Prosecution and happily that was corrected," he explained.
