Integrity Commission Oversight Committee questions IC handling of Dwayne Vaz issue

By Halshane Burke    

 

Representatives of the Integrity Commission are to be summoned to appear before the Oversight Committee of Parliament to answer questions on its recent reports.

 

The Commission recently submitted six reports to Parliament, including a probe into former parliamentarian Dwayne Vaz.

 

There have been questions swirling around the timeline of activities relating to the certification of the statutory declaration of Mr. Vaz.

 

Mr. Vaz missed the deadline to provide critical information to the Commission and is currently before the court awaiting his fate after pleading guilty.

 

But members of the Integrity Commission Oversight Committee, from both sides of the political divide, have raised issue with how the matter concerning Mr. Vaz has been handled.

 

Government member Everald Warmington called for the report relating to Mr. Vaz to not be examined until more information can be provided by the Commission.

 

"I was going to ask [that] the report on our former colleague Dwayne Vaz be deferred until we have the team from the Integrity Commission here, because I'd like to know what's the relevance of Section 42 (3)(a). If you issue a certification, or what have you, for a particular year, how can you then still be asking for the documents? So I need to know the relevance of this section, or whether or not this section is being abused," he suggested. 

 

Opposition member Julian Robinson questioned whether a letter addressed to Mr. Vaz from the Integrity Commission and signed by Director of Information and Complaints Craig Beresford, certified the statutory declaration of Mr. Vaz.

 

"I'd like to confirm that this letter was actually sent by Mr. Beresford to Mr. Vaz, and if it was in fact sent by him, I'm asking the Integrity Commission to explain the basis under which Mr. Vaz has been found to be in contravention of any provision of the Integrity Commission Act." 

 

Committee Chair Edmund Bartlett assured that commission members would be invited to attend after members properly reviewed the reports for any questions that may arise to be properly ventilated.