Government senators want Christie out

Government senators have called for the resignation or removal of Integrity Commission executive director Greg Christie over the commission’s handling of the findings of a probe into conflict of interest allegations against Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

The Integrity Commission is under fire for allowing its findings in the probe – including the referral of Holness for possible criminal sanction in relation to the awarding of Government contracts 14 years ago – to be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday without information that the prime minister had eventually been exonerated in the matter more than a month earlier by the commission’s Director of Corruption Prosecution.

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In a release on Friday, the Government senators described as “unjust” and “bizarre” the treatment of the findings, and laid the blame squarely at the feet of Christie.

“This unusual and bizarre treatment of the issue has been exacerbated by the executive director’s republication of material on Twitter maligning the official and posts by both the (executive director) and the Commission itself which curiously omitted any mention of the exoneration of the official,” the senators said.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that the entire Integrity Commission has been brought into public disrepute and subjected to ridicule as a result of the executive director’s management of the affairs of the Commission and his public deport on social media,” they added.

According to the senators, the affair has caused serious damage to the reputation of the country, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Integrity Commission itself.

“The reputation and governance of the Commission as an institution must be restored by immediate action which must include an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the actions described above, and the resignation or other removal of the executive director,” the release stated.

In a release earlier Friday, the Integrity Commission denied it acted improperly in the matter, noting that “It is worth repeating and stressing that publication of the Ruling could not be done before or simultaneously with the report. It had to await the tabling of the report. That is the law as crafted by Parliament….”

However, the senators have dismissed the Integrity Commission’s explanation and raised several questions which they argued have not been adequately addressed by the corruption watchdog. The questions are as follows:

1. Why did the Commission fail to deliver the Ruling on the report tabled contemporaneously with the report?

2. What is the explanation for the Commission’s silence after the report was tabled and prior to the delivery of the Ruling at a time when they had the legal authority to publicly correct the speculation and misinformation circulating in the local and international media?

3. What could explain the actions of the Executive Director on social media at a time when he must have been aware of the exoneration contained in the Ruling?

4. Is it in the best interest of the Commission and all stakeholders concerned that that the Commission continue in its present incarnation and under its current leadership?