PNP’s Dwayne Vaz pleads guilty to Integrity Commission charge
Mentioned
Analysis
The article describes a guilty plea by an MP to charges under Jamaica’s Integrity Commission Act for failing to file statutory declarations and a fixed penalty payment related to that process, directly implicating public accountability and corruption prosecution.
Full Article
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Former People’s National Party (PNP) Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Central, Dwayne Vaz on Tuesday pled guilty to breaching the country’s Integrity Commission (IC) Act in the Half Way Tree Parish Court.
On Tuesday, April 23, an Integrity Commission report stating that Vaz is to be charged for failing to file his statutory declarations for 2019 was tabled in the House of Representatives.
READ:PNP’s Dwayne Vaz facing corruption charge
According to the commission, Vaz had filed his statutory declaration for 2019 on March 30, 2020, in keeping with his obligation as a legislator. However, the IC wrote to him on November 3, 2020 requesting a financial statement for the year ended December 31, 2019 for a company named Estelar Global Services Limited, for which he was one of two directors between 2014 and 2021.
Vaz was given a November 16, 2020 deadline. Several reminders were issued to Vaz when the deadline elapsed. On December 7, 2020, contact was made with Vaz via cellphone and e-mail, reminding him of the information requested to which he responded a day later requesting until December 18, 2020 to provide the outstanding information.
The commission said that subsequently a notice to discharge liability was served on Vaz on February 18, 2021, wherein he was given 30 days to pay a fixed penalty of $250,000 to Tax Administration Jamaica and submit the outstanding information to the IC.
“Checks made with the Information and Complaints Division revealed that on March 5, 2021, prior to the expiration of the notice to discharge liability, Mr Vaz provided the requested information,” the IC said. However, upon the expiration of the notice to discharge liability period on March 11, 2021, the payment of fixed penalty was not made.
As such, the IC’s director of investigation concluded that Vaz failed to discharge his liability consistent with Section 43(3) of Integrity Commission Act and referred the report to the IC’s director of corruption prosecution for consideration.
Vaz had initially insisted he had no outstanding document for the Integrity Commission and said he was “fully committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and transparency required by the Integrity Commission and will continue to engage cooperatively with all legal processes”.
READ:Dwayne Vaz seeks to clear the air in IC corruption probe
Vaz will return to court on June 6, 2024 for sentencing. His bail was extended.
Related Articles
House Speaker in a pickle
MarisaDalrymple-Philibert’s tenure as House Speaker is hanging in the balance after the Integrity Commission ruled that she be slapped with eight charges in relation to her statutory declarations over seven years. Additionally, the commission’s director of investigation, Kevon Stephenson, in a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, recommended that the report be referred to the prime minister “for him to take such disciplinary and/or administrative actions which both recognises the seriousness of Mrs Dalrymple-Philibert’s conduct” and to deter recurrence.…
Charges recommended against PNP councillor Keisha Lewis for failing to file statutory declarations
The Director of Corruption Prosecution at the Integrity Commission has ruled that charges be laid against People’s National Party (PNP) councillor Keisha Lewis for failing to file statutory declarations for three separate periods. Lewis, councillor for the Lauriston Division in the St.…
PNP’s Vaz pleads guilty but says battle to clear name not over
FORMER People’s National Party (PNP) Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Central Dwayne Vaz has indicated that his guilty plea to breaching the country’s Integrity Commission (IC) Act on Tuesday is not the end of the matter. In a mid-afternoon media release, after he entered the guilty plea in the Corporate Area Parish Court, Vaz pointed out that he only addressed the charge of, ‘failure without reasonable cause to provide information requested to the Director or Information and Complaints by way of notice dated November 3, 2020 and subsequent extension dated November 20, 2020’.…
Dwayne Vaz accused of breaching Integrity Commission Act
THE Integrity Commission (IC) has referred former parliamentarian Dwayne Vaz for prosecution, saying that he failed to provide information to the commission in relation to his statutory declaration for the year 2019. The recommendation is contained in an IC investigation report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.…