THE proposed Prevention of Corruption Bill has been red-flagged by an attorney for unfairly targeting mainly high-profile public officers and civil servants.
Lesley Walcott, who is also a law lecturer at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, said there was a particularly worrying feature of the bill in Section 42 which addresses, in part, public officials found in possession of property disproportionate to their legitimate sources of income.
She said that this could not be addressed objectively since it required a judgment call as to what someone making a certain amount per year should or should not have.
“The burden of proof is placed on the poor public official. You are guilty before a trial,” she said.
She said the proposed law suggested that there was greater potential for corruption among top management.
“Certainly commercial case law is replete with examples of fraud and theft at the lower end of the totem pole – so, for instance, in Government departments it often occurs at the point of face-to-face contact,” she noted.
The bill targets public officials, including chairmen, board members and chief executives of statutory boards and companies controlled by Government, heads of Government departments, judges, magistrates and Members of Parliament.
“Clearly the price of service to the public is disclosure,” the law lecturer said.
If the bill is enacted, public officials and their spouses will be required to file a declaration of assets and liabilities and failure to do so can result in a fine of $500 000, imprisonment for five years, or both.
Walcott voiced her concerns Tuesday during a public lecture on Transparency And Accountability In Government And Business hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados at The Savannah Hotel, Hastings, Christ Church.
Walcott said full and frank disclosure had been utilised in such a manner and to such a degree that many of those subjected to the planned legislation would see the act as invasive. (NB)
