Stakeholders ‘deeply concerned’ by Government’s about-turn on unexplained wealth orders, push to review IC legislation

Stakeholders in the National Consensus on Crime say they are "deeply concerned" to learn that the Government is no longer pursuing as a priority the introduction of Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) in Jamaica.

At the same time, the stakeholders have also taken issue with the Government's proposal to amend the enabling legislation for the Integrity Commission (IC).

"These two decisions could damage Jamaica's reputation as they would appear to represent a public repudiation of our national commitment to the fight against money-laundering," the stakeholders said in a media release on Friday.

"We therefore urge the Government of Jamaica to reconsider any action that could undermine the fight against corruption and could cost Jamaica its hard-won reputation with the major international agencies," the stakeholders further stated in the release.

The release represents the position all of Jamaica's major private sector groups, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, the Jamaica Council of Churches, Jamaicans for Justice and National Integrity Action.

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The groups noted that the Government made a strong commitment to introduce UWOs when the National Consensus on Crime was signed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in 2020.

At the time, the Government committed to introduce this amendment to the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) by March 2022.

The private sector and civil society groups say while this deadline was missed, the Government's ongoing commitment to introduce UWOs was again noted in the Governor General's Throne Speech in February 2023, which meant that the commitment was still alive as of that date.

They note that potential conflict with the Constitution has been cited by the Government as one of the reasons the matter has been taken off the priority list.

However, the groups say legal guidance was already sought on the matter and the Crime Consensus Monitoring and Oversight Committee (CMOC) was advised that there would be no conflict with the Constitution once applied in a precise way.

This is for the following reasons:

• The UWO should be constrained to being used as an investigative tool. The only requirement that a UWO would place on a person is evidential. This information would be given only to authorised investigating officers, it would not be made public, so there would be no question of compromising the person's privacy.

• There should be no presumption of guilt when a UWO is used. The primary purpose of a UWO is to determine if any further investigation is required.

• UWOs would make a very useful addition to the fight against crime and corruption in Jamaica. At present, illicit enrichment is partly addressed by section 14(5) of the Corruption Prevention Act, but this existing law only covers public sector corruption; and is not applicable to other forms of criminally obtained wealth.

The stakeholders note that the advantage of UWOs is that they can be applied to anyone and, therefore, utilised to investigate all forms of illegal finance, including bribe-taking, scamming and money-laundering.

"We are also deeply concerned that the Prime Minister has indicated that the Government now wants to amend the enabling legislation for the Integrity Commission (IC) and thereby remove or reduce the efficacy of one of the most important safeguards against corruption in Jamaica," the release from the stakeholders said.

It said the two decisions could impact Jamaica's standing with the Financial Action Task Force, the International Monetary Fund and Jamaica's International Development Partners, and possibly even resulting in Jamaica's reinstatement on the Grey List.