The Integrity Commission has served notice to 179 public officers that they face a fine and imprisonment if they don’t submit their 2023 Declaration Form on or before September 2, 2024 and among those listed as defaulters is the Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton.
Also among the defaulters is Sherod Duncan MP and Walter Narine, Director of Solid Waste Management, Mayors & Councillors of the City of Georgetown. When reached for comment by the Sunday Stabroek, Norton stated, “They [Integrity Commission] did send me the document. I believed the submission deadline was August 31, 2024. I will submit the declarations in the new week. I have nothing to hide.”
He also mentioned that he has submitted all previous declarations. When contacted by this newspaper, Narine promised to submit his declarations on Monday August 5th, 2024. All efforts to contact Duncan have gone unanswered.
Published in the August 3rd edition of the Guyana Chronicle, the Integrity Commission said that Pursuant to Section 19 of the Integrity Commission Act, as at 30thJuly, 2024 the 179 Specified Persons in Public Life failed to submit their declaration to the Integrity Commission for the 2023 declarations period (1st June, 2022 to 30th June 2023).
It said that the specified persons in public life are requested to submit their 2023 Declaration Form on or before 2nd September, 2024.
“Continued failure to file will now constitute an offence as per Section 22 of the Commission’s Act, No. 20 of 1997. The offence stipulates in Section 22 a fine of twenty-five thousand Guyana Dollars (GYD $25,000) together with six (6) months nor more than one-year imprisonment term’, the notice said.
The Integrity Commission has issued such notices in recent years but it is unclear if any penalties have been applied against defaulters.
Also listed yesterday as defaulters are Vincent Alexander, Commissioner, Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM); Manoj Narayan, Commissioner, GECOM; Saisnarine Kowlessar, Chairman of the Guyana Revenue Authority; Horace Williams, Chief Executive Officer of the Hinterland Electrification Co. Inc; former Commissioner of Title, Priscilla Chandra-Hanif and magistrates Fabayo Azore, Alex Moore, Sunil Scarce, Rabindranauth Singh and Christel Lambert. Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Kashif Mohamed is also listed as is the Chairman of the National Insurance Scheme Ramesh Persaud.
