Britain’s injection into IC nears $270 million
Published:Tuesday | November 7, 2023 | 12:11 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
THE BRITISH Government has pumped more than J$200 million or £1.1 million into the operations of the Integrity Commission since 2020 and has pledged a further J$66 million for its ongoing work up to 2025.
The extended memorandum of understanding (MoU), which forms part of the United Kingdom’s Serious Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Programme (SOCAP) in Jamaica, comes even as Jamaica’s chief anti-corruption agency faced sustained and severe criticisms from government members over its perceived handling of its investigations.
Documents obtained by The Gleaner last week, from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), reveal that between October 2020 and August 2023, the Integrity Commission received £800,000 or approximately J$152 million.
Before that, the agency, which was founded in 2017, received £300,000 or approximately J$57 million.
An additional £350,000 or J$66.5 million is available to the commission under the extended MoU signed in March based on an “ongoing need and available resources”.
The commission said key initiatives undertaken include the training and development of more than 200 people in the 2021-22 financial year.
It said, through FCDO funds, the procurement, acquisition, and utilisation of interview equipment occurred; procurement of data analysis software and training; the procurement of the integrated case management system and analytical application; the procurement of legal bags; and the procurement anti-corruption and investigative software licence.
The FCDO has stipulated as part of its terms that its funds must be separately accounted for by the Government and readily identifiable at all times.
It also said that the Government must ensure that all goods and services financed from the grant be used for the purposes set out within the arrangement.
In the event goods or services are being used for other purposes, the Government must notify FCDO in writing and that FCDO may seek to recover from the Government the value of the goods and services concerned.
The Government is also expected to cooperate fully with FCDO and its agents during any assessment of the public financial management system, the partnership principles and the project, providing the information and evidence necessary for effective assessments to be made.
Whenever required and practicable, the FCDO said, the Government will permit FCDO authorised personnel to visit the project(s) funded, directly or indirectly by the grant.
“The Government will within nine months of the end of each financial year provide FCDO with annual audited statements from its auditor general (or equivalent) confirming that FCDO’s grant has been used for the intended purposes,” the office said.
Formal reviews are to be conducted annually and at the end of the project, the FCDO added, noting that it reserves the right to conduct periodic assessments of progress.
It also asked for submissions of quarterly progress and financial reports and that six-monthly meetings be convened to discuss progress.
Integrity Commission Executive Director Greg Christie confirmed in an email to The Gleaner that it has produced reports to UK government officials.
He did not respond definitively to a request by The Gleaner for copies of those reports.
Christie also said information about reports produced by the UK Government should be requested through the British High Commission, which told The Gleaner earlier this year that it would not comment on this matter.
In May 2019, then British High Commissioner Asif Ahmad told made it clear that the “time will come” when his government would be asking for “results”, having pumped thousands of pounds into the Integrity Commission.
He said it would be a betrayal of British taxpayers if external financing procured for the Integrity Commission did not produce measurable targets aligned with its mandate to investigate and expose corruption.
“But time will come, and it will come soon, where we will have questions that are now in the minds of Jamaicans, ‘Where are the results’?” Ahmad stated.
He also waded in on revelations that a number of parliamentarians at the time, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, had not been cleared of scrutiny by the Integrity Commission, and has called for them to respect the organisation’s authority.
“Parliamentarians have a responsibility to ensure that their own declarations are in order, that there is proper scrutiny and oversight, and that people actually play by the book,” he said.