Headlines:
| Government and Opposition at odds over Special Prosecutor |
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| Tuesday, 04 November 2008 | |
 More doubts have been raised about the legal powers of
the Special Prosecutor that has been proposed to investigate and bring to book
corrupt public officials.Opposition members on the Joint Select Parliamentary Committee considering the Corruption Prevention Act Tuesday said there are apparent dangers in the reporting relationship between the Director of Public Prosecution and the Office of the Special Prosecutor. Solicitor General Douglas Leys told the Joint Select committee that existing research on the executive powers of the DPP does not support arguments about the possibility of a conflict with those of the Special prosecutor. "The Special Prosecutor will be able to discharge his statutory functions in this regard as far as they are consistent with the provisions of the Act," he said. However former Attorney General, Senator AJ Nicholson, insisted that the Corruption Prevention bill in its current form will create unease and tension "Our problem, challenge is, how do you deal with the, not the apparent, obvious collision that must take place between the legislature and the DPP," he said. Last month, Senator Nicholson suggested that the government consider assigning a Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions with a special mandate to investigate corrupt officials, arguing that appointing a Special Prosecutor is incompatible with the constitution. The proposed Corruption Prevention "Special Prosecutor" Act is to repeal the existing Anti-Corruption Act. Meanwhile, Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) is up in arms about what it says is the exclusion of parliamentarians and members of the Judiciary from the oversight of the Special Prosecutor. Under Section 2 of the Corruption Prevention Bill, provision has been made for the definition of "public official" to be varied to exclude any member of any council, board or committee subject to a declaration by the Minister. Executive Director of JFJ, Dr. Carolyn Gomes who made a presentation to the Joint Select Committee considering the Corruption Prevention Bill, says the exclusion of Parliamentarians and members of the judiciary will create more suspicion among members of the public. Citing the United Nations Convention against Corruption, Dr. Gomes says the proposed bill must be passed in keeping with the interpretation of who is a legitimate public official. "Clearly all legislation should attempt to harmonize with this definition and to capture above, all individuals must be subject to this legislation not only as a point of principle... but more so as a point of necessity as this bill repeals basic Prevention Corruption Act and the Parliamentary Integrity of Members Act," Dr. Gomes said. |