SIX parliamentarians and 28 public officials are being investigated for illicit enrichment, the Integrity Commission stated in its 2022/23 annual report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

At the same time, seven legislators and 32 public officials are under investigation for providing false information to the commission, which amounts to breaches of the Integrity Commission and Corruption Prevention acts.

As is customary, no one is named in the report, however the commission’s Executive Director Greg Christie, in his remarks, said an effective fight against corruption can only begin with a country’s executive and parliamentary leaders.

“They are uniquely placed to set the right tone, both in word and in deed, and for others to follow. Only they can ensure that strong laws are in place that are consistent with international best practices, which will provide national anti-corruption institutions with an effective legislative framework and the tools that they will require to seriously combat the scourge of corruption,” Christie stated.

He said that Jamaica’s performance on Transparency International’s (TI’s) Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was poor, as on January 31, 2023,when the CPI was announced, Jamaica’s score was 44 out of 100.

On the CPI zero means “highly corrupt”, while 100 means “very clean”.

Jamaica’s lowest CPI score ever was 30, recorded in 2009, Christie said, adding that a CPI score of below 50 means that a country has a grave corruption problem.

“A poor CPI score, according to TI, signals prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption, and public institutions that do not respond to citizens’ needs,” he said.

“Fortunately, Jamaica is presently at a juncture at which it is reviewing its primary anti-corruption law. Hopefully, therefore, we will as a country seize the opportunity to set things right,” Christie said.

In its 2021/22 report the commission had said one parliamentarian and three public officials were under investigation for illicit enrichment, while three parliamentarians and five public officials were under probe for providing false information to the commission.

In the 2020/21 report six parliamentarians were said to be under investigation for illicit enrichment.

None of the individuals under investigation have so far been arrested or charged.