By Robert Hart, Parliamentary ReporterKENNETH LEWIS, past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica (ICAJ), and member of the Public Accountancy Board, has been appointed chairman of the Integrity Commission, taking the reins from former chairman Uriel Salmon.
Mr. Salmon, also a chartered accountant, has retired from the Commission and is one of two members who have not returned to the body brought into force to preserve the integrity of parliamentarians.
A.H. Chong, secretary/manager of the Integrity Commission, has indicated that Mr. Lewis, senior partner at accounting firm Mair Russell Grant Thornton, will be joined by retired Justice David Pitter and re-appointed members: retired Justice Martin Wright, Auditor General Adrian Strachan, and Edgar Jones. Mr. Jones is also a past president of the ICAJ.
Speaking to The Gleaner yesterday, Mr. Lewis indicated that he has enjoyed three 'good' meetings of the Commission since being appointed April 1. At the same time, the new Commission chairman indicated that he could not yet say what level of action the body will be taking against parliamentarians and ex-parliamentarians who continue to be delinquent in the required provision of statutory declarations.
"I cannot say. It will depend on the circumstances," Mr. Lewis said, while declining to comment on the performance of the previous commissioners. In December of last year, the commission submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions the names of three ex-parliamentarians whose statutory declarations were still outstanding at December 31, 2002. The issue was subsequently resolved without prosecution.
OUTSTANDING
But in the latest Integrity Commission Report, it was indicated that 20 ex-parliamentarians, as well as one current member, had declarations outstanding up to March 31, 2003
The Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act requires all parliamentarians to submit a statutory declaration to the commission by December 31 of each year. As stipulated by the Act, the commission consists of the auditor general and four other persons from the following categories: members of the Governor-General's Privy Council; president or past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica; retired judges of appeal or retired judges of the Supreme Court; and persons who have held the post of commissioner of income tax, financial secretary or auditor general.
