FORMER Jamaica Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) Leslie Campbell has expressed surprise at the decision by the director of corruption prosecution at the Integrity Commission (IC) Keisha Prince-Kameka that he be charged for breaching the Integrity Commission Act.

Campbell is also requesting an urgent review of the decision.

Prince-Kameka made the decision to charge Campbell after director of investigation (DI) at the Integrity Commission Kevon Stephenson referred him for possible prosecution.

Campbell is facing possible prosecution for his alleged failure to provide the commission with additional information it requested in relation to statutory declarations he filed between 2016 and 2020.

Campbell, who recently resigned as a government senator, is facing allegations of breaching the Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act (PIMA) and the Integrity Commission Act (ICA).

In a report tabled in the Senate on Friday, Stephenson said, following a probe, he concluded that Campbell was legally obligated to file statutory declarations with the commission during the period of 2016-2020 when he served as Member of Parliament for St Catherine North Eastern.

Stephenson said while Campbell did file his statutory declarations as required, he was requested, on more than one occasion, to file additional information, and while he indicated that he was aware of the requests, he failed to do so.

“The [DI] further concludes that Mr Campbell’s failure to provide the referenced information contravenes Section 15 (1) (c ) of the PIMA and Section 43(1)(b) of the ICA,” said the report.

Stephenson recommended that the report should be referred to the commission’s for consideration.

“Notwithstanding the foregoing, the DI recommends that the director of information and complaints renews his request for Mr Campbell to provide the requested information,” added the report.

The information which the IC requested from Campbell, which it said has not been provided, included the balance on an account for a bank loan, and the surrender value of life insurance policies.

However, Campbell did provide the IC with information on the status and sale value of a 2011 BMW X6 and the balance in a US-dollar bank account — which were requested in 2017 — and the salary he received from an unnamed entity in 2018.

Campbell, a Britain-trained barrister and attorney-at-law, successfully contested the St Catherine North Eastern constituency on a Jamaica Labour Party ticket in the 2016 General Election.

He was subsequently appointed as a minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, and later served in a similar post in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries.

He did not contest the 2020 General Election but, following the JLP’s victory, was named to the Senate by Prime Minister Andrew Holness. He was then appointed to serve as state minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

Campbell, along with Natalie Campbell-Rodriques, resigned from the Senate last month, paving the way for Holness to name Abka Fitz-Henley and Dr Dana Morris Dixon to the Upper House.

In a late afternoon release yesterday, Campbell said the commission continues to request the surrender value of a life insurance policy which has no surrender value.

He said he awaits contact for the commission’s director of information and complaints for dialogue as stated in the report tabled in the Senate.