Mark Golding stresses that immediate concern is about Auditor General's reports to Parliament, not Integrity Commission's

 

Opposition Leader Mark Golding said on Sunday that he was baffled by the decision of the Integrity Commission to indicate that it has no outstanding report to be tabled in Parliament, noting that he made no reference to outstanding reports from the Commission.

 

In that regard, Mr Golding stressed his recent comments on outstanding reports were geared towards those from the Auditor General, not the Integrity Commission, "which is what I said (in his contribution to the Budget Debate), so I don't know what led the Integrity Commission to issue that release."

 

The Integrity Commission, in its release on Friday, said it had taken note of comments "that have been and continue to be made in sections of the media which would suggest that reports that have been submitted by the Commission to Parliament, for tabling, are yet to be tabled."

 

It therefore said that, "in the public interest," it was comfirning that all of its Investigation and Annual Reports, that have so far been submitted to Parliament for tabling, have in fact been tabled. 

 

"None is outstanding," the Commission stressed.

 

The Opposition Leader reiterated his concern however about the policy announced by Speaker in late 2023, "where certain Integrity Commission reports will not be tabled whne sent to Parliament but which will be sent to this oversight committee, which the government controls; a government MP chairs that committee... its a wrong policy and it should be resisted."

 

The Integrity Commission, in its March 22 statement, stressed that, "in the interest of public transparency," once it sends an Investigation Report to Parliament for tabling, it immediately issues a media release "to advise the public that it has done so despite the fact that it is, at that point in time, prohibited by law from identifying the subject of the report."