No fear or favour

CHAIR of Jamaica’s Integrity Commission (IC) Ret’d Justice Carol Lawrence Beswick has vowed that the anti-corruption watchdog will continue to pursue its mandate fairly, independently, and “without fear or favour”, despite the growing number of court challenges to its decisions.

Writing in the IC’s 2025/26 Annual Report, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, Beswick said the commission will be “guided at all times by the law, the principles of justice, and the unwavering commitment to integrity, transparency and accountability in public life”.

She highlighted that during the reporting period, the commission observed an increase in legal actions brought against it and members of its leadership team.

Beswick stressed that the IC respects the constitutional right of every individual to approach the courts and is committed to honouring all judicial processes and determinations. Yet, she said it was important to recognise the implications of this emerging trend.

“There is a legitimate concern that the increasing resort to litigation against the commission and its officers in the execution of their lawful duties may, whether intentionally or otherwise, impede the timely discharge of the commission’s responsibilities,” Beswick warned.

“Defending legal proceedings requires the commitment of significant time, financial resources and institutional capacity that might otherwise be directed towards the investigation and prevention of corruption,” Beswick explained.

The retired justice noted that the courts play a vital role in safeguarding the rule of law and ensuring that public bodies operate within their legal authority. However, she argued that it was equally important that the lawful execution of the commission’s mandate is not frustrated, delayed, or undermined by actions designed solely to discourage robust investigations or to inhibit the commission from carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to it.

As it relates to court proceedings, the IC shared that the reporting year, April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, was marked by intensive litigation activities during which it steadfastly pursued and defended matters before the courts pursuant to its enforcement powers, under Section 63 of the Integrity Commission Act (ICA).

It shared further that during the reporting year it continued to pursue seven legal matters which were before the courts. These involved the commission directly, or were in relation to legacy entities.

For his part, the IC’s Executive Director Craig Beresford also raised concerns over the growing number of legal challenges faced by the commission.

“This trend was characterised by the increasing use of interim injunctions by external parties, which served to delay or halt active investigations and defer the publication of statutory outputs,” said Beresford.

He noted that while these complex legal proceedings required a substantial allocation of fiscal and human resources, they underscored the robust nature of the commission’s legal frameworks.

“The organisation will continue to defend its statutory mandate against adversarial challenges. Rather than diminishing systemic impact, navigating these sophisticated legal developments has further fortified the commission’s procedural execution and risk-mitigation strategies,” he wrote.

Among the politicians/parliamentarians to mount challenges against the IC in recent years are Ian Hayles, Zavia Mayne, Dr Andrew Wheatley and Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness.

In the case of Hayles, the IC, in a 2023 ruling asked its director of investigations to probe allegations of a conflict of interest, irregularity and/or impropriety in relation to the construction of buildings by him when he was a Member of Parliament, without approval from the Hanover Parish Council. He has since returned to the House of Representatives having won the Westmoreland Western seat in the 2025 General Election.

The report was submitted to Parliament for tabling by the then contractor general, under cover of a letter that was dated February 13, 2017. However, the Supreme Court, on March 20, 2017, acting on an application for leave to apply for judicial review that was filed by Hayles and his wife Charlotte Alexander Hayles, had barred publication of the report.

On December 20, 2022 the Supreme Court dismissed the application for leave to apply for judicial review and cleared the way for the tabling of the report in Parliament. The report was tabled on January 24, 2023, pursuant to a letter dated January 17, 2023 from the IC (into which the former commission of the contractor general was subsumed, effective February 2018).

In December 2025, Government Member of Parliament Zavia Mayne took legal action against the IC, filing a suit in the Supreme Court targeting the agency and three of its senior directors: Craig Beresford, Roneiph Lawrence and Kevon Stephenson.

That application for judicial review followed an investigation report tabled in the House of Representatives. The report recommended that Mayne be charged for allegedly failing, without reasonable cause, to disclose financial information related to companies with which he is associated.

In his filing, Mayne asked the court to quash both the July 14, 2025 investigation report and the ruling of the director of corruption prosecution that he should be charged under Section 43(1)(b) of the ICA.

Zavia Mayne

He also contended that the commission breached his right to privacy by releasing details about its investigation, including personal information and the fact that his case had been, or was intended to be, referred to prosecutors. The suit argues that this disclosure violated his constitutional protections under Sections 13(3)(j)(ii) and 13(3)(j)(iii) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

More recently, the IC reportedly told the court that it will not charge Cabinet member Dr Andrew Wheatley until a determination of his application for judicial review of the commission’s findings and its ruling.

A hearing into Wheatley’s application for leave to seek judicial review has been set for July 23.

Attorneys for the IC — its Director of Investigation Kevon Stephenson, and acting Director of Corruption Prosecution Kelly-Ann Murdock — gave the undertaking to the court on their behalf.

This was in response to a move by Wheatley’s lawyers to seek an injunction to prevent him being charged before the application for leave to seek judicial review is heard.

Wheatley has taken the IC to court over its recommendation that he be charged with illicit enrichment. The commission had alleged that his assets are disproportionate to his earnings to the tune of $164 million. But Wheatley has accused the IC of acting unreasonably and unfairly and failing to take into consideration several circumstances which render its allegation false.

In August 2025, the legal team for Holness indicated it would appeal a ruling in the Supreme Court handed down on July 31 that year that blocked the disclosure of certain files in an ongoing legal battle with the IC.

Justice Althea Jarrett had granted leave to appeal the decisions handed down in her ruling where she refused an application by the prime minister’s team for disclosure of several unredacted documents and similarly rejected its application to strike out aspects of the commission’s director of information’s affidavit based on them “being irrelevant and an abuse of process”.

The prime minister has maintained that he has not broken the law since the tabling of an IC report in 2024 that contained recommendations that the Financial Investigation Division and Tax Administration Jamaica examine his financial dealings.

The prime minister is seeking a declaration that the commission acted unfairly and unlawfully in its conduct of an investigation into his statutory declarations.

Dr Andrew Wheatley (Photo: Karl Mclarty)