Dalrymple-Philibert expected to learn if she’s going to trial on December 13
Former House Speaker Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert could learn next Friday whether she will be ordered to trial on allegations that she made a false statement in her statutory declarations to the Integrity Commission.
Delays due to a bomb threat Thursday slowed Friday morning proceedings in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, resulting in the case being postponed to December 13.
Dalrymple-Philibert’s attorney, King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie told Observer Online that the judge also cited “other reasons” for pushing the case back, which Champagnie says could mean the judge wanted more time to make a decision on the matter.
Champagnie is seeking that the case be halted based on the Integrity Commission allegedly charging Dalrymple-Philibert under the wrong section of the law due to a misinterpretation of the legislation.
The Trelawny Southern Member of Parliament was charged for failing to declare a vehicle she had purchased with concession for the government on several statutory declarations.
The charges laid by the Integrity Commission in September 2023 were four counts of making a false statement in a statutory declaration between 2015 and 2017. She was also charged with four counts of breaching section 43(2)(a) of the Integrity Commission Act, 2017 for making a false statement in a statutory declaration between 2018 and 2020.
Citing damage to her reputation from the accusations, Dalrymple-Philibert resigned from her seat in parliament and as speaker of the house in September 2023.
READ: Dalrymple-Philibert resigns as MP, Speaker
Dalrymple-Philibert was reelected in a resounding victory in a by-election last month.
She has maintained her innocence throughout the process, describing the failure to declare as an omission due to the car having mostly been used by her sister.
READ: ‘Mama D’ re-elected Trelawny Southern MP in by-election
The commission’s director of investigation, Kevon Stephenson, in a report tabled in Parliament had recommended disciplinary action due to “the seriousness of Mrs Dalrymple-Philibert’s conduct”.
