A notice published in the weekly Government Gazette has warned that the names of public officers who fail to declare their assets will be published, as a first step to ensuring they comply with the Integrity in the Public Life Act.
According to the notice, one officer working as a legal officer and 12 attached to HM Prisons services have failed to declare their assets by the date provided in the original request, and they were served in final notices.
The officers who have been served with final notices are required to file their declarations on 26 June 2014. Any officer who fails to file his/her declarations will be published in the Gazette and the newspapers. A subsequent failure will be followed by court proceedings, as per the notice from the Office of the Integrity Commission.
136 officers attached to HM Prisons were scheduled to declare their assets and liabilities, while 23 legal officers were qualified to so do. The original date for declaring was 3-4 April. The Notice said that 11 of the legal officers complied, 9 were provided with extensions, 2 had excuses (1 resigned from Government and the other did not fall within the list of persons in public life), and 1 failed to declare.
107 of the officers at the HM Prisons complied, 12 got extensions; 5 had excuses (1 on a long term sick leave, 1 on one-year no pay leave, 1 retired, 1 on suspension, 1 deceased), and 12 who failed to declare.
The Integrity in Public Life Act provides for all public officers, including those employed with statutory bodies, who earn more than EC$2000, to declare their assets and liabilities with the Office of the Integrity Commission.
The Commissioners of the Integrity Commission and Parliamentarians were the first to declare their assets.
By Linda Straker
