Beresford made the disclosure during the IC’s annual report press conference on Tuesday, days after Government Member of Parliament (MP) Matthew Samuda, speaking as a member of Parliament’s Integrity Commission Oversight Committee, proposed that the Financial Investigations Division (FID) take over the examination of statutory declarations submitted by MPs serving on the committee.

Samuda also suggested that the statutory declarations of Integrity Commission staff and commissioners should be reviewed by an independent body, such as the FID or the auditor general, arguing that the current arrangement creates an inherent conflict of interest.

While declining to respond directly to Samuda’s proposal that the statutory declarations of MPs serving on the Oversight Committee be examined by the FID, Beresford said the agency would reserve its comments until it appears before the committee.

“We look forward to meeting the Oversight Committee,” he said when asked to respond to criticisms raised during the committee’s recent deliberations.

However, Beresford said the issue of who should examine the statutory declarations of Integrity Commission staff was one on which the agency had already taken a clear position several years ago.

“As it concerns the issue of examination of statutory declarations for our staff, we actually made a proposal since 2021 for that to be done. Because you recognise that we are facing a sort of a conflicted position.I was the director of informational complaints at the time, and I said it would be inappropriate to re-examine our own statutory declarations, and the law prescribes that we can make regulations to how we treat with statutory declarations for staff,” he revealed.

He explained that the recommendation was subsequently submitted to the Joint Select Committee reviewing the Integrity Commission Act, and said the agency continues to support the proposal.