(Jamaica Gleaner) A senior official at the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is among more than 70 public-sector employees expected to be hauled before the court in a fresh crackdown by the Corruption Prevention Commission (CPC) on public servants accused ignoring their responsibility to file statutory declarations on time.
Government sources revealed on Wednesday night that 72 public servants, including 44 employed at the central bank, have been summoned to appear in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court to answer to charges of failing to file statutory declarations.
According to one source, they are accused of not filing any declaration for different periods during the last three years.
The Corruption Prevention Act stipulates that each year, several categories of public-sector employees are required to furnish the Corruption Prevention Commission (CPC) with all particulars of their assets, liabilities and incomes, as well as those of their spouses and children, where applicable.
Where the commission believes, after examining a declaration, that additional information is required, it is empowered under the act to request additional documents and information from a declarant.
However, the CPC, which was created in 2001 to help stamp out corruption in the public sector, has revealed that the number of public servants flouting this requirement has jumped from 25 per cent at the end of December 2003 to 52 per cent as at December 2012.
In its 2012-2013 report to Parliament, the CPC revealed that 16,216 of the 31,132 eligible public-sector employees did not file a statutory declaration for 2012.
