Give whistle-blowers protection and compensation and create an authority to specifically deal with white-collar crime. Making the recommendation was former government minister Subhas Panday, who said those measures were certain to catch the “big sharks.” He said so during a press conference at his San Fernando law chambers.
Commending President Anthony Carmona on his address at the ceremonial opening of Parliament last Friday, Panday zeroed on the president’s “acute observation” about corruption in public life. Quoting Carmona’s statement about waking up the sleeping giant called the Board of Inland Revenue, Panday said: “I can understand the President’s thinking because the Integrity in Public Life Act seems to be inadequate to deal with corruption.”
He said politicians could easily find ways to circumvent that act and also the Income Tax Act. Saying he is proof that a person can be a politician and a minister and not be corrupt, Panday said a new vehicle was required to deal with corruption by politicians. “I want to humbly suggest that new legalisation be introduced to create an Anti-White Collar Crime Authority,” he added.
He said members should be appointed by the President and staffed drawn from personnel from the Police Service, Fraud Squad, Moral and Ethics Squad, Board of Inland Revenue, Integrity Commission and private forensic auditing experts. Panday said the authority should be given the power to hunt down corrupt politicians and their cohorts long after they have demitted office “maybe to their graves and after that their children.”
The authority must have the power to do a forensic audit of the person’s account and trace assets and recommend confiscation, in addition to any other punishment they want to impose, he added. Panday said all offences under the act must be indictable “so that there should be no statutory limitations to bring charge under this law.”
Also recommending the enactment of the whistle-blower protection and compensation law, he said whistle-blowers should be given one third the value of any monies or funds realised by the State. “For example if $10 million is realised, the whistle-blower should be entitled to $3.3 million. As it stood, he said, many people have information but there was no incentive to come forward with it.
“White-collar crimes, it seems to me, are more prevalent and dangerous than blood crimes,” he added. Panday noted that members of Parliament congratulated the President but no one indicated what steps he or she would take to give effect to the President’s concerns. “Independent senators, the ball is now in your court,” he added.