FLA loses bid to get copy of unpublished Integrity Commission report but gets permission to appeal

The Supreme Court has dismissed an application by the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) seeking disclosure of an unpublished Integrity Commission report into alleged corruption and irregularities at the agency. But the court has granted the authority leave to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal.

The ruling, handed down on Friday, deepens a legal and constitutional dispute that has simultaneously gripped Parliament, where the report, submitted on March 30, remains untabled more than seven weeks after its delivery to the presiding officers.

The court also set September 17, 2026 for the hearing of the FLA's application for permission to seek judicial review of the IC's investigative processes in relation to the allegations. 

The controversy has triggered political tensions over whether Parliament should table the report while legal proceedings remain active. There is no injunction blocking the tabling, but Parliament's leadership has said it will not act in a manner that could prejudice the court proceedings.

The dispute escalated last Friday when Senate President Tom Tavares-Finson declared that Parliament's presiding officers would not "bow to any intimidation or threat" from Opposition Leader Mark Golding regarding the tabling of the report.

Speaking in the Senate, Tavares-Finson defended the decision by himself and House Speaker Juliet Holness to withhold the report pending further developments in the court matter.

Golding had written to the presiding officers warning that unless the report was tabled at the next sittings of both Houses of Parliament, he would instruct King's Counsel Michael Hylton to initiate court proceedings.

Hylton, in a legal opinion shared by Golding, argued that the report should be tabled immediately and that the House rules cited by Parliament did not support withholding it.

Tavares-Finson countered that the Integrity Commission Act does not compel presiding officers to table reports within any specific timeframe, maintaining that the decision rests with Parliament's leadership.

The dispute follows revelations first reported by The Sunday Gleaner on May 17 that the FLA had filed an urgent application in the Supreme Court around April 7, naming the Integrity Commission and its Director of Investigation Kevon Stephenson as respondents. 

The authority had initially signalled it would seek an injunction to block tabling of the report and had sought disclosure of the document, arguing access was necessary to support. 

A source at the FLA previously told The Sunday Gleaner that the authority was challenging the report as it strongly disagreed with the findings of the investigation and believed the report would cause irreparable reputational harm.

The Integrity Commission and the FLA have declined to comment on the court proceedings. The Court Administration Division has confirmed that the matter is sealed and could not release any details on the matter. 

Constitutional lawyer Dr Lloyd Barnett has said Parliament's decision to withhold the report while the matter is before the court is proper. 

The matter has renewed debate over the balance between parliamentary privilege, judicial oversight and the ability of public bodies under investigation to challenge reports before they are tabled, the process that makes documents public. 

A similar legal battle emerged in 2017 when Ian Hayles successfully blocked the tabling of an investigation report by the Office of the Contractor General, one of the Integrity Commission's predecessor agencies. 

Hayles later lost his legal challenge and the report was eventually tabled. 

In a December 2022 judgment, the Supreme Court held that courts have no power to interfere in the internal affairs of Parliament, and that the injunction granted in the Hayles matter should not have been issued.

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