Opposition Spokesman on Citizen Security and Productivity, Senator Peter Bunting has accused the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government of launching an “all-out assault” against the Integrity Commission (IC).

He has also accused the JLP of “going against any initiative which would hold the corrupt accountable”, while reneging on its support for the IC.

Bunting made the accusation Friday during his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Upper House

He took particular aim at Prime Minister Andrew Holness when he reminded that during the debate on the Bill establishing the new IC, Holness said ‘…as a politically independent country, we could have achieved much more were it not for corruption in many forms: revenue leakage due to corrupt practices, misuse of public funds, and the overall perception of pervasive corruption, all of which have served to compromise the flow of investment into our country’.

According to Bunting, this helps explain why Net Foreign Direct Investment in 2023, at US$376.5 million, is way below what it was in 2015 when it was at US$926.5million.

He also quoted the prime minister saying: ‘The Economic Growth Council has also recently identified corruption as a significant retardant to growth…’

Said Bunting: “Now we understand why – notwithstanding all the economic reforms implemented since 2013 – growth is elusive. The PM signaled it – corruption’.”

Bunting also highlighted that in his message to commemorate International Anti-Corruption Day in 2020, Holness stated, ‘Under the leadership of Chairman the Hon Justice Seymour Panton, the Commission continues to distinguish itself, operating without fear or favour in pursuit of a just and corruption-free public sector and ensuring the best and most efficient use of public resources’.

“What a full throated and unqualified endorsement,” Bunting remarked before mockingly imitating the voice on the TikTok platform which often states “a few moments later” when something has, or is about to go horribly wrong.

In the prime minister’s case Bunting said: “A few years later… when the IC issued a damning investigative report on the same Prime Minister PM Andrew Holness detailing a series of complex financial arrangements involving 28 bank accounts, with thousands of transactions, and hundreds of millions of dollars passing betwixt and between these accounts… then suddenly that same PM is going to court seeking to strike down the provisions of the ICA (Integrity Commission Act) to declare section 14(5) unconstitutional. Quite an extraordinary approach to a law piloted and passed by his government, and which his Attorney General would have certified as constitutional”.

Meanwhile, Bunting said the JLP has abandoned its commitments to the Crime Monitoring and Oversight Committee to introduce the Unexplained Wealth Orders as well as the body-worn cameras for police on operations.