( L - R )CHUCK, SMITH AND PHILLIPS
OPPOSITION SPOKESMAN on Justice Delroy Chuck yesterday called for Parliament to pass legislation making it illegal for business owners to make payouts to extortionists.
Mr. Chuck, speaking during a parliamentary debate on legislation designed to tackle the growing concern of extortion, said the Larceny Amendment Bill failed to go far enough in addressing the issue.
In an impassioned presentation, he blasted the private sector, accusing many business people of speaking out against extortion in public while supporting the criminal acts behind the scenes.
"This bit of legislation, yes you may find one or two extortionists, but unfortunately Mr. Speaker, we have far too many people who are going to comply ... who are going to say to the extortionists 'take the money but don't tell anyone I participate'," he said.
Mr. Chuck added: "This is a problem because unless we make it a criminal offence for persons to pay extortion money then they will be willing to do so because those (victims) of extortion are willing participants in the whole scheme of things."
He argued that, instead of amending the decades-old Larceny Act, the Parliament should have sought to repeal and replace it with a new larceny bill.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Business and Spokesman on National Security, Derrick Smith, said the Opposition was in support of the legislation, but warned that it would fail to achieve its objective if there was no serious commitment to stamping out extortion. He suggested that, without confidence in the capabilities of law enforcement, victims of extortion would be forced back underground, leading to increased costs for consumers.
The Larceny Amendment Bill clarifies the understanding of extortion, making it illegal for anyone to make unwarranted demands for money from others.
PUBLIC RELATIONS PLOY
But other Opposition parliamentarians, including Pearnel Charles and Andrew Gallimore, suggested the legislation amounted to nothing more than a public relations ploy, painting a picture of something being done about extortion when nothing was being done.
Minister of National Security Dr. Peter Phillips, who piloted the bill, admitted there was a need for a comprehensive review of the Larceny Act. "This bit of legislation is brought to bear to deal as an immediate effort to address a problem for which few prosecutions have been forthcoming because of the particular difficulty which exists in the law as it is presently framed," Dr. Phillips said.
The bill, passed in the Senate just over a month ago, was passed in the House without amendment.
