The Integrity Commission has resubmitted to parliament, the controversial investigation report that it had previously recalled.
The report relates to findings on the First Rock / Airports Authority of Jamaica / Norman Manley International Airport matter, and was first submitted to the parliament in May, but subsequently recalled by the commission by way of letters, in June.
It was tabled by Senate President Tom Tavares Finson, despite the recall, as he said he did not see a legal basis for its return to the commission.
The copy of the report that was sent to the lower house was returned by House Speaker Marisa Dalrymple Philibert.
This is the report that has been re-submitted, in its original, unaltered format.
In a statement today, the commission said the report was recalled, because it was aware at the time, that the document had not yet been tabled, and that it had recalled reports in the past with the kind facility and courtesy of the parliament.
In a letter sent last month, the House Speaker returned her copy of the recalled report.
However, in the same letter, the commission was advised that the copy of the report sent to the Senate President was in his possession and as such the house clerk was unable to return that copy.
The commission noted that the recalled report was tabled in the senate last Friday, on the instructions of the senate president.
It said contrary to what was inferred by the Senate President in his comments, the commission did not receive any communication from Tavares Finson to indicate that he was awaiting a legal justification for the recall of the report, neither did the President, at any time, request such a justification from the commission.
As regards its reason for recalling the report, the commission said last month it implemented a new internal policy which requires the director of investigation to communicate with persons who may be adversely affected by an investigation report, and to do so before the report is tabled.
The objective of the policy is to communicate the findings of investigation reports to the affected parties so that their comments may be recorded.
The commission said it’s this new policy which prompted the commission’s recall of the report, and not because of any error or need to add anything to it.
It noted that the tabling of the report by the senate president last Friday has rendered the commission’s exercise academic.
As such, the original, unaltered copy for the speaker of the lower house was resubmitted.
The commission said the policy implemented last month, has not, and will not, be applied to matters that are being referred for prosecution.
In such cases, persons who are negatively impacted, where appropriate, would be communicated with pursuant to the judges’ rules administrative directive.
The commission added that at its regular monthly meeting on Monday, a decision was taken that, going forward, in the interest of transparency, the public will be notified once the commission sends an investigation report to parliament for tabling.
This will be done via a formal media release.
Meantime, the commission has also submitted another investigation report to parliament; it did not state what this report is about.