Manchester North Western Member of Parliament Mikael Phillips is to be charged with breaching the Integrity Commission Act for failing to submit his statutory declaration for the period ending December 31, 2022.
However, Phillips had already stated that he has since met all his obligations under the Act.
The ruling by the Integrity Commission’s director of corruption prosecution states that there is prima facie evidence that Phillips breached the requirements under sections 39 and 41 of the Act and is therefore liable for prosecution.
Both the ruling and the Integrity Commission’s investigation report on Phillips were tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, a week after being sent to the House.
According to the commission’s director of investigation, Phillips “failed to submit the requisite statutory declaration to the commission by the due date”, and “provided no reasonable cause for his failure to do so”.
The director of investigation said that a notice to discharge liability was served on Phillips on May 30, 2023, giving him 21 days to pay the fixed penalty of $250,000 to Tax Administration Jamaica and submit the outstanding statutory declaration to the commission.
The commission said that checks made with the information and complaints division revealed that on May 31, 2023, prior to the expiration of the notice to discharge liability, Phillips provided the outstanding declaration. However, the payment of fixed penalty was not made by the legislator.
“This was confirmed by a certificate of non-payment of fixed penalty, received from Tax Administration Jamaica, which was submitted to the commission on June 26, 2023,” the director of investigation said in his report, which he referred to the director of corruption prosecution for consideration.
However, last Friday Phillips issued a statement saying that while his submission was later, he had complied with all the commission’s requirements.
“I wish to state that my 2022 statutory declaration was unfortunately late due to a delay in getting all the relevant documents. Shortly after the deadline, the documents were submitted and I have since fully complied with all the requirements,” the parliamentarian said.
“As a public servant, I take my responsibilities seriously and while the statutory declaration was delayed it is not connected with illicit enrichment. All my statutory declarations have been certified and the late-filing penalty of $250,000 has been paid,” he added.
