SECURITY Minister Peter Bunting yesterday accused the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) of protecting corrupt public officials by frustrating investigations being carried out by the police into cases of ill-gotten gain.

“In many cases when the police are investigating cases of illicit enrichment you [the commission] refuse to share the statutory declarations with them, even though all it requires is for you to open your investigations,” Bunting remarked during the sitting of the joint select committee of Parliament.

The committee is deliberating changes to the Integrity Commission Act, in order to establish a single anti-corruption agency.

“We have cases where public officials at the relevant time have been charged for multiple offences, and the police want to proceed against them, and you refuse to open your investigation, which would allow the police to be able to access their statutory declarations and proceed with successful prosecution,” Bunting charged.

“It’s actually operating in a perverse way, to protect corrupt public officials,” the minister insisted.

But Executive Director of the Commission David Grey, who was present in Parliament, refuted Bunting’s claim. He pointed out that there are provisions in the Corruption Prevention Act which the body is not at liberty to override.

“The ruling from the Attorney General’s Chambers indicate that the commission can only divulge the statutory declaration under a request under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Once those requests are made, the commission has responded to every one. That is the opinion we have from the Attorney General’s Chambers, and the commission has abided by that,” Grey argued.

However, an insistent Bunting countered that under the Corruption Prevention Act the CPC, if it has an open investigation against an alleged public official, is allowed to share information from that investigation with the police to facilitate a joint investigation.

“I am of the view that, that is incorrect,” Grey responded, stating that “any investigation of the commission predisposes the declarant to a hearing being held by the commission”.

He also said that if the declarant is not granted an opportunity to a hearing for such investigations (such as a joint investigation involving the police), it could enable the declarant to make a case that natural justice has not been addressed.

The security minister, however, maintained the position that this did not prevent the commission from sharing statutory declaration with the police.

Grey held that: “That is what the ruling has spoken to, that unless the declaration is being sought under the Proceeds of Crime Act, we cannot divulge it”.

At the same time, some members of the committee rejected the recommendation by the CPC to drop the ceiling for cash, which public servants must report to the commission, from $500,000 to $250,000.

Government Senator KD Knight categorised the move as “nonsense”, arguing that it should be of no concern to the commission if individuals wanted to keep large amounts of unaccounted-for cash in their possession. “Scrap it. If I want to keep $1 million at my home, that’s my business,” Knight remarked.

Committee member Derrick Smith agreed that it was “illogical” to expect persons to report having $250,000 in cash in their possession, while Delroy Chuck reasoned that perhaps public servants are already not reporting their cash because there is no system of verification to accompany the reporting.

Grey stressed the importance of reporting, despite the lack of a verification process. He said there was a problem with public servants holding large amounts of cash outside of the banking system, which the Government does not know about.

“The commission has investigated several public servants and the matter of cash holdings that are held outside the banking system is a major factor in the determinant of asset holdings. We have public servants who engage in round-robins every weeknight, and the holdings are held in cash, which is used to buy other things, which are kept outside of the banking system, and upon investigation we are met with all of these assets, and the salary is miniscule, and it is this undeclared figure which creates a problem,” he outlined. “What the commission is trying to do is get a handle as to, at a particular period of time, the cash that you said you kept, so that we can do a comparison, to see where you’re at, in terms of the cash that you’re keeping,” Grey said.

The CPC administers and enforces the Corruption (Prevention) Act of 2000, which was created to tackle bribery and corruption in the public service.