The Integrity Commission says it took a zero-tolerance approach to the non-filing of declaration forms this year.
In its New Year’s Message, the Integrity Commission said it filed 1,592 court orders to chase 2,772 ex-parte applications for outstanding declarations and statements of registrable interests this year.
It added that 521 court orders were served and 37 applications were sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for those who didn’t comply with the court orders.
The commission added that 1,143 declarations and statements of registrable interests were certified following these exercises.
In the look back at 2022, the Integrity Commission’s Investigative Unit, comprised of accounting, law and policing experts, assigned an investigator to bring closure to 107 cold cases. The investigator closed 18. Ten out of 44 cold cases dating back to 2013 have been closed, it said. The Commission’s release did not say what those cases were or what the outcomes were.
Looking to 2023, the Commission said it is currently drafting regulations to standardise the procedure and forms to facilitate summoning of witnesses and having them examined under oath.
It added that it had spent much of the past two years reforming itself in an attempt to address its poor perception in the eyes of the public. The mission started by the new board, which assumed office in January 2021 under chairman Rajendra Ramlogan, spent 2022 “devoted to executing its mandate.”