JUSTICE Minister Delroy Chuck has accused the Integrity Commission (IC) of going rogue, “acting inappropriately” and “threatening institutions” during the course of its investigations.

Chuck made the damning allegation on Wednesday during a meeting of the joint select committee (JSC) of Parliament examining the Integrity Commission Act 2017.

He was commenting on a submission by the Permanent Secretaries Board which had argued that the powers of the IC are too broad.

The board recommended that Sections 7(8) and 53(2) of the IC Act be reviewed in light of the principles of natural justice.

Chuck noted that the board had argued that the powers of the IC are too wide-ranging and the anti-corruption body seems unfettered.

“It is recommended that the IC Act be amended, consistent with the ruling by the UK Privy Council in the Turks and Caicos matter to require that information being sought from third party institutions be done with the consent of the public official and to introduce a requirement for disclosure orders issued by a judge in chambers, after careful consideration of the evidence supplied by the IC, and only in furtherance of an investigation due notice having been served on the public official, that an investigation is being pursued,” Chuck read from the board’s submission.

Having read the proposal, Chuck declared, “This is one of the best recommendations [to come before the committee]”.

At that stage, Opposition member Julian Robinson questioned what would happen in a scenario where the public official does not consent to the IC getting information from a third party.

“That’s a different thing; you go to court,” Chuck quickly responded.

He then reminded committee members, “The case from the Turks and Caicos was actually circulated by me because when it came to my attention, it was obvious to me that the IC was acting inappropriately. They were getting information from all the different public bodies, including financial institutions, and they were writing reports using that information.

“The way that the Turks and Caicos case indicated is that basically, that is an invasion of privacy which is protected by the Constitution of Jamaica. And therefore what the IC did, in writing reports where they got information without the consent of the public official, was wrong and we need to make it very clear in this section that must be the case, bearing in mind the constitutional right to privacy.”

He added, “If the IC was conducting an investigation and was of the view that it needed information from a public body or financial institution, all they need to do is to go to a judge and the judge will approve it.”

Chuck left eyebrows raised and a seemingly stunned silence as he charged, “What is more, my understanding is that they [the IC] are literally threatening institutions that if they don’t provide the information, the information could be brought up [before a court].”

He told the JSC that unfortunately that this has gone on for too long, and it’s about time it stops.

“The IC must look at the Turks and Caicos judgment and conduct their business, conduct their investigations in accordance with what was said in that Turks and Caicos case,” declared Chuck.

He was supported by fellow Government member Everald Warmington, who declared his full support of the recommendation from the Permanent Secretaries Board.

But Opposition member Dr Morais Guy asked to be reminded if there was a case involving a financial institution that had refused to divulge information to the IC and the matter went to court.

He said the Privy Council, having made a ruling in the Turks and Caicos Islands, “I think then that it is more justification for it to be included in [the Act]”.

Agreeing with the Permanent Secretaries Board’s recommendation, Government member Tova Hamilton said: “If it is that the Integrity Commission has the authority to just request information of persons from third parties, what would be our purpose, or the public official’s purpose, of declaring every year?

“It really wouldn’t make any sense since they can get the information at will, so I think it would be null and void.”

The JSC is scheduled to meet all day today to wrap up its deliberations and prepare its final report to be submitted to Parliament.