The Editor, Sir:

To try and cloud such a payment with an aura of respectability by claiming it as an unsolicited gift or by using other issues that arise from the disclosure as a means of confusing the public is disingenuous. The other issues must be dealt with by appropriate action by the relevant authorities.

Trafigura is about ethics and morality in public life. It is about campaign contributions or electoral reform. The parliamentarians should observe the Code of Ethics they signed at the behest of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica.

Even without the existence of legislation there should be an ethics committee of the Parliament to review this and other issues and to pass judgement on the behaviour of its members.

It is interesting that any reference to either legislation or codes of ethics or conduct implemented elsewhere, whether in the U.S.A. or Europe, payments of this nature are prohibited and unacceptable. Such payments have been the subject of penalties and opprobrium and publicised in our media when they have occurred in other jurisdictions, and there should, therefore, be great consciousness about them in Jamaica.

Our political founding fathers would be horrified at the low level of debate about the issue between the political parties founded by them. In my view, ethical and proper behaviour does not require legislation, but only a firm adherence to good principles.

I am, etc.,

PATRICK H.O. ROUSSEAU