KINGSTON, Jamaica — Former People’s National Party (PNP) Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Central, Dwayne Vaz on Tuesday pled guilty to breaching the country’s Integrity Commission (IC) Act in the Half Way Tree Parish Court.

On Tuesday, April 23, an Integrity Commission report stating that Vaz is to be charged for failing to file his statutory declarations for 2019 was tabled in the House of Representatives.

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According to the commission, Vaz 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 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.

Vaz was given a November 16, 2020 deadline. Several reminders were issued to Vaz when the deadline elapsed. On December 7, 2020, contact was made with Vaz via cellphone and e-mail, reminding him of the information requested to which he responded a day later requesting 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.

Vaz had initially insisted he had no outstanding document for the Integrity Commission and said he was “fully committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and transparency required by the Integrity Commission and will continue to engage cooperatively with all legal processes”.

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Vaz will return to court on June 6, 2024 for sentencing. His bail was extended.