Dwayne Vaz accused of breaching Integrity Commission Act
THE Integrity Commission (IC) has referred former parliamentarian Dwayne Vaz for prosecution, saying that he failed to provide information to the commission in relation to his statutory declaration for the year 2019.
The recommendation is contained in an IC investigation report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
According to the commission Vaz, the former People’s National Party Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Central, had filed his statutory declaration for 2019 on March 30, 2020, in keeping with his obligation as a legislator.
However, the IC wrote to him on November 3, 2020 requesting more information, and gave him a November 16, 2020 deadline.
The information requested was a financial statement for the year ended December 31, 2019 for a company named Estelar Global Services Limited, for which he was one of two directors between 2014 and 2021.
When the deadline elapsed a reminder was sent to Vaz on November 17, giving him until November 20 to provide the requested information.
The IC said that on December 7, 2020 contact was made with Vaz via cellphone and e-mail, reminding him of the information requested. On December 8, 2020 Vaz responded to the e-mail and requested until December 18, 2020 to provide the outstanding information.
The commission said that subsequently a notice to discharge liability was served on Vaz on February 18, 2021, wherein he was given 30 days to pay a fixed penalty of $250,000 to Tax Administration Jamaica and submit the outstanding information to the IC.
“Checks made with the Information and Complaints Division revealed that on March 5, 2021, prior to the expiration of the notice to discharge liability, Mr Vaz provided the requested information,” the IC said. However, upon the expiration of the notice to discharge liability period on March 11, 2021, the payment of fixed penalty was not made.
As such, the IC’s director of investigation concluded that Vaz failed to discharge his liability consistent with Section 43(3) of Integrity Commission Act and referred the report to the IC’s director of corruption prosecution for consideration.
