…AG says was still engaged with Integrity Commission
…urges amendments to Act to facilitate easier access to ‘info’ on assets, liabilities

By Svetlana Marshall

Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, said it was “premature” for the Integrity Commission to publish his name in the Official Gazette, as an official who would have failed to submit his declaration, when he would have initiated the process of declaring his assets and liabilities and had been in constant communication with operatives of that constitutional body.

In the Official Gazette on Saturday, February 1, 2020, the Office of the Integrity Commission, in a notice, published a list of 74 persons in Public Life, alleging that they would have failed to submit their declaration for the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. But three Government Ministers, among them the Legal Affairs Minister, have since come forward indicating that their assets and liabilities were declared to the Commission.
In an interview with Guyana Chronicle on Monday, the Attorney General recalled that he was among the first set of public officials to have submitted declarations to the Integrity Commission for the period July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. However, he noted that in March, 2019, days after the Court of Appeal handed down its judgement in the ‘No-Confidence Motion’ case, he received a correspondence from the Integrity Commission requesting additional information to supplement the documents already submitted for 2018.
Among the documents requested were valuations for his assets, and those of his spouse, including vehicles and other properties. In May, 2019, the Attorney General said he received another correspondence, this time, indicating that he was required to submit his declaration for the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. In October, 2019, another correspondence was sent by the Commission in relation to valuations.

While noting the valuation of properties is often a lengthy process, the Attorney General said it would have been unrealistic for him to submit valuations for his properties by June 30, 2019, when the request for updated valuations, by the Commission, was made in March, 2019. “As a lawyer, I am saying, I can’t fail to submit my asset when I am engaged with you in a process and your conduct amongst to a waiver because I couldn’t do an updated evaluation between March and June,” Minister Williams said. According to him, it was his intention to submit the remaining documents on Friday, January 31, 2020, but was required to travel overseas on official duty. Those documents were submitted on Monday, February, 3, 2020.

Questionable motive
According to the Attorney General, the motive behind the publishing of the names is questionable, and as such called for the Commission to uphold its integrity. “Right now there is a Commissioner of the Integrity Commission who is on the PPP list. Obviously, that Commissioner would be prejudice,” he told this newspaper. Guyana Chronicle was unable to confirm whether Commissioner Pandit Rabindranath Persaud, who was sworn-in in February, 2018, is the same person who appeared as a candidate on the People’s Progressive Party/Civic List of Candidates for the upcoming elections.

Williams said that he has nothing to hide as corruption is not in his DNA. “I don’t rob, I don’t do drugs, I don’t take bribe, so I have nothing to hide; but you cannot say I have failed to declare my assets when I am still engaged with you in the process.” According to Minister Williams, Ministers of Government, whose names were published although they would have submitted their declaration, feel targeted. “So, from where I sit, I have to ask certain questions – these things that they are asking me [for], are other people being asked the same thing? Are the opposition members being asked the same thing? It look to us that they are only targeting the Government Ministers and MP,” he reasoned.
He said the purpose of the Integrity body is to measure the acquisition of assets when someone gets into public office. To this end, he asked whether anything was done to investigate how Irfaan Ali acquired a palace two years after becoming a Minister of Government. “All that I have, I came into government with, so I am not really bothered,” Williams stated.

Integrity body is necessary
While underscoring the importance of the Integrity Commission Act, the Attorney General made a case for the legislation and other regulations to be amended to facilitate easier access to information on assets and liabilities, and to guarantee a level playing field. Under Schedule 1 of the Integrity Commission Act, public officials are mandated to disclose their financial assets and liabilities on or before June 30 each year. However, the Attorney General said it is challenging to access financial information for a 12-month period that ends in June, when the Budget Fiscal Year ends on December 31. “We will have to bring the fiscal year in alignment with the budgetary fiscal year which ends in December,” he told this newspaper.

Additionally, he said in an effort to maintain the “integrity” of the Commission, there must be a standardised list of documents that all public officials must be required to submit. “We have to ensure that we have a standardised set of requirements, so when you are submitting, you know you have to have these things in mind. There has to be greater transparency,” he emphasised.

In June 2017, the Integrity Commission (Amendment of the Code of Conduct) Order 2017 was gazetted by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo. In keeping with the 10 Principles of Public Life – accountability, dignity, diligence, duty, honour, integrity, loyalty, objectivity, responsibility and transparency – the order addressed issues of bribes, discrimination, gifts, conflict of interest, use of official influence, handling of classified information, use of public property, sexual misconduct and entertainment.

The expansion of the existing Code of Conduct has brought the Act in line with the legislation governing the State Asset Recovery Unit and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which states that employees of these state agencies must declare their assets in accordance with the Schedule II of the State Asset Recovery Act. In the past, the functioning of the Integrity Commission has been a controversial issue, though the previous administration had sworn in members in 1999. That Commission’s Chairman, Bishop Randolph George, resigned in 2006, and the commission was not reconstituted until February, 2018.