Officials removed from Anti-Corruption Commission

Cayman Islands Governor Helen Kilpatrick and Police Commissioner David Baines

(CNS): An amendment to the Anti-Corruption Law, which passed unopposed through a second reading in the Legislative Assembly Monday, has removed the police commissioner, the auditor general and the complaints commissioner from the Anti-Corruption Commission, paving the way for the five-member panel to be made up of retired judges, lawyers, police officers, justices of the peace, accountants or other relevant private sector individuals, to be appointed by the governor. 

While there had been few concerns about the auditor general and complaints commissioner sitting on the ACC, the inclusion of the police commissioner, who was also the chairman, had been controversial since the law was passed in 2008 due to the obvious conflict, illustrated by the fact that the first public official convicted under the law was a police officer.

The chair of the ACC will now be appointed by the governor from the membership and is no longer prescribed in law. Prior to the amendment, the commissioner of police was automatically ACC chair by Anti-Corruption Law.

The amendments to the legislation, presented by the Attorney General Sam Bulgin yesterday, reduces the tenure of the commission members to three years with an option for renewal; the AG said that tying people in for five years, which was the previous requirement of the law, was too long.

In addition, the amendments include the creation of the post of manager for the commission, who will have powers of arrest.

The law provides for the ACC to investigate cases and co-opt experts to help. It also allows the commission to enter into agreements with the RCIPS or other relevant agencies and delegate parts of its function, depending on the expertise required to undertake an investigation. While the amendment formally removes all public officers from the commission, it allows for their expertise to be called upon whenever it is needed.

The law now defines more clearly who constitutes a public official and what criminality falls under the law.

During the brief debate in the Legislative Assembly, MLA Ezzard Miller urged government to properly fund both the ACC and the RCIPS Anti-Corruption Unit, as he raised his concerns that government was passing amendments to strengthen the legislation on the one hand but failing to allocate the necessary resources on the other to allow the commission to function properly.