Part 1 of this statement was published on Monday, June 5, 2017.

Major

matters referred by the OCG to the DPP between March 8, 2008 and December 31, 2009, whose disposition is today not publicly clear:At least one matter that was referred to the DPP by the OCG — during the period that is under consideration, and in respect of which the DPP had, in turn, formally referred same to the commissioner of police — appears to remain outstanding.In March 2009, more than eight years ago, the OCG cited Dr Omar Davies, Memberof Parliament and former finance and planning minister, for improperly interfering with the sale of Air Jamaica’s London Heathrow slots.Dr Davies was referred to DPP Paula Llewellyn for, among other things, attempting to mislead a contractor general in the execution of his functions, contrary to Section 29 of the Contractor General Act.On October 30, 2009, the DPP publicly ruled that “the public interest would mandate that the matter be referred to the commissioner of police for further investigation in relation to the possible breach of Section 29 (a) of the Contractor General Act by Dr Davies”.Although formal statements were taken by the police from the OCG regarding the matter, as at when I demitted office on November 30, 2012 the outcome of the investigation was unknown. Perhaps the learned DPP might be in a position to advise the Jamaican public as to the current status of this matter.The learned DPP has alluded to the high level of compliance that is currently being enjoyed by the OCG, in the form of Jamaica’s public bodies submitting their quarterly contract award (QCA) reports to the OCG.The DPP’s allusion is ironic as the requirement on the part of Jamaica’s public bodies to submit QCA reports to the OCG was introduced by me, effective July 2006. At the outset, the compliance rate among the country’s then almost 200 public bodies was a mere 13 per cent.In an effort to secure a 100 per cent compliance rate in the submission of the QCA reports by public bodies, I met, in late 2006, with the then DPP, Kent Pantry.I advised DPP Pantry that I would be introducing a zero-tolerance policy, which would see the automatic referral to him, for criminal prosecution, the head of any Jamaica public body that failed to file its QCA report on time, effective with the QCA reports that were due for the last quarter of 2006. DPP Pantry, unhesitantly, committed his full support to me and my office.The result of this measure, which was fully backed by DPP Pantry, brought about a dramatic change in public bodies’ compliance in Jamaica, such that when I demitted office in November 2012, the OCG had enjoyed 13 consecutive quarters of 100 per cent compliance from the country’s approximately 200 public bodies, up from a rate of 13 per cent in 2006.The following statement, which appears on page 13 of the OCG’s 2009 annual report to the Jamaica Parliament, speaks instructively to the matter:“The following are verbatim comments which are taken from an official OCG media release, which was issued on February 8, 2010. The release was issued after the OCG’s rigidly enforced zero-tolerance policy produced an unprecedented and record 100 per cent compliance rate for the four consecutive quarters of 2009, in respect of the submission of QCA reports, to the OCG, by the country’s 190-plus public bodies.“While the OCG wishes to recognise the demonstrated efforts of the country’s senior public officials to comply with the OCG’s lawful requisitions, the OCG, nevertheless, believes that there are important lessons to be learnt from the success of its zero-tolerance policy. The following are the comments of Contractor General Greg Christie regarding the matter:“It is an incontrovertible fact that the criminal laws of Jamaica will continue to be broken wantonly and with impunity unless and until those who are responsible for enforcing the law do just that.“The OCG’s experience also demonstrates that there is no such thing as 100 per cent voluntary compliance with any law. There will always be transgressors who must be forced into compliance. And the way to do that is to send a strong, unequivocal, and unmistakable signal that no matter who you are, what your station in life is, or how minor your transgressions may be, if you violate the criminal laws of our country, you will pay. That was the signal which was sent by the OCG’s zero-tolerance policy.“It is for this reason that the OCG wishes to place upon record its gratitude to the former DPP Mr Kent Pantry, CD, QC, and Mr Dirk Harrison, the then acting deputy DPP, without whose courage and fearlessness the OCG’s zero-tolerance policy would not have been successful.“It was Mr Pantry, in February 2008, just before he demitted office, who took the unprecedented step to initiate criminal prosecution proceedings against the accounting or senior accountable officers of 17 of the public bodies that had failed to comply with the lawful requisitions of the OCG. (The OCG was advised of Mr Pantry’s decision by way of letter which was dated February 14, 2008.)“The prosecutions were eventually marshalled in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s Court by Mr Harrison after the incumbent DPP Ms Paula Llewellyn, QC, had assumed office.“The incumbent Director of Public Prosecutions Ms Paula Llewellyn, CD, QC, who succeeded Mr Kent Pantry, was appointed into office on March 5, 2008.”With deep respect, and solely in the public interest, I would ask Jamaica’s learned DPP Ms Paula Llewellyn to take note of the foregoing comments and to consider the independent assessments that have been made of her office’s performance by eminent and independent third-party external agencies. I will make reference to only two of the referenced agencies, and their comments.In the US State Department’s 2017 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), the following verbatim assessment of Jamaica’s corruption problem, and the performance of Jamaica’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, under the leadership of DPP Paula Llewellyn, was made:“Corruption (in Jamaica) remains entrenched, widespread, and compounded by a judicial system that has a poor record of successfully prosecuting corruption cases against high-level law enforcement and government officials.”Interestingly, almost identical language has also been utilised by the United States Government to describe the perception of Jamaica’s corruption problem, and the performance of the ODPP, in its 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 INCSRs.Finally, the Organization of American States, in its 2014 Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption report on Jamaica, expressed the following concerns about Jamaica’s DPP:“All these government bodies rely exclusively upon the DPP to carry out prosecutions of corruption and corruption-related offences. Their effectiveness can only go so far if prosecutions are not being carried out. The committee observes that the country under review (ie Jamaica) should consider addressing the lack of prosecutions or actions undertaken by the Office of the DPP.”It is instructive to note that the OAS’s assessment of Jamaica’s Office of the DPP was settled by a team of professionals from other countries, inclusive of eminent lawyers, after a thorough and independent review of the OCG’s referrals to the DPP, among others. 

Greg Christie is former contractor general of Jamaica. Send comments to the Observer or

gjannat@aol.com.