THE Integrity Commission has signalled that it will be ramping up scrutiny of public officials in the wider public sector amidst a long-standing perception that its anti-corruption crusade has focused more on parliamentarians and other politicians.

The commission will also be moving to input information from as far back as 2003 into its database, involving 300,000 pieces of data, in order to carry out a risk-based assessment of public officials and various categories of positions.

Executive director of the commission Greg Christie outlined to a parliamentary oversight committee yesterday that the shortage of institutional resources has plagued the entity since its creation, and explained the steps being taken to close some of the gaps.

Head of the Information and Complaints Division Craig Beresford explained to the committee that the commission will be extending its probe across the public sector, as over the years there has been a compliance rate of only between 60 and 70 per cent.

He said the unit would spend another month or two to “get the database right in terms of receipts”.

“We are going to be taking a zero-tolerance approach and we will be ensuring that we follow the [Integrity Commission] Act in terms of giving notice, and then making the necessary referral to treat with those issues, because we do want other public officials to boast the same as parliamentarians in terms of a hundred per cent compliance rate,” Beresford said.

He said a three-tiered, risk-based assessment system is being implemented, with declarations that are considered riskier being subjected to deeper investigation and auditing on an ongoing basis up to five years.

“It can mean that anywhere between one and five years a public officer will be subjected to deeper review in terms of their own declaration,” he noted.

Beresford made the point that, notwithstanding a review of current information, new information could affect investigations, such as hidden assets.

“As it stands now, we will do the deeper analysis, we will identify certain flags, and at that point we will make a recommendation to the commissioners for them to make their own decision as to whether or not it would be subject to further investigation,” he said, advising that these investigations would also be dependent on new information received through complaints.

He said the first step is to ensure that all information is inputted in the commission’s database, including those which have already been manually submitted.

“Everything will be subjected to interrogation once we start to interrogate the audit process, so what has passed will still be reviewed, but it will be projectised,” he noted.

The target for completion of the data entry backlog is 18 months.

Beresford said there will be a regime for dealing with new declarations and making decisions as to whether these should be subject to further investigation.

He explained that the commission is looking to develop algorithms in its e-filing system that would generate specific information related to asset movement and matters concerning net worth statements.

The information and complaints manager said this “mammoth task” requires additional staff and information technology capacity, and there are also some legal issues which will have to be navigated, such as electronic signatures.

“So we may have to do it in two phases — first just ensuring that the [declaration] form is electronic. We want to ensure we have a more robust system because we are aware of many things that could influence these declarations,” he stated.

Currently, 33,000 public officials are required to file statutory declarations annually. There is an emoluments threshold of $3.5 million, but all members of the constabulary and the Jamaica Defence Force are required to file.