Copyright caymancompass
Cayman’s corruption watchdogs need tougher powers to deter MPs and civil servants from breaching rules, delegates heard at one of the sessions during the recent post-election seminar held at Cayman’s House of Parliament 22-24 Oct. The heads of the Commission for Standards in Public Life and the Anti-Corruption Commission said stricter rules should be introduced to cut the risk of dishonesty. Woody Foster, head of the Commission for Standards in Public Life, told the session on ‘Behaviour, Ethics and Standards’ that legislation needed “stronger teeth” to better deter wrongdoing. He highlighted there were 1,300 officials and MPs who were required to register their outside interests, but that some had not done so. The commission, however, was told that no MPs were among the defaulters. Foster said, “I think the problem is there is no real accountability.” He added his commission had “the power to fine people for not doing their register of interests, but the law, in fact, makes it difficult to do so.” Foster said, “While I’m in the chair we are going to work to fix that.” He added that amendments proposed by his commission were being considered “with the intention of strengthening the legislation”. Corruption is a ‘global problem’ Elisabeth Lees, head of Cayman’s Anti-Corruption Commission, said corruption was “a global problem and, of course, the Cayman Islands are not immune to its destructive effects”. She said her organisation had powers of arrest, could freeze assets and had the ability to seize evidence, and added that the commission supplied the director of public prosecutions with a report for a decision on whether there were sufficient grounds to prosecute. Lees said her commission had been instrumental in recent prosecutions of Department of Vehicle and Driver’s Licensing staff for taking cash for passing cars as roadworthy without inspections and allowing people to cheat on the driving licence theory test. She highlighted other cases the organisation had investigated, such as the successful 2023 prosecution of Canover Watson for fraud and money laundering of US$1.54 million while he was an official at the Cayman Islands Football Association. Lees told the session, “The Cayman Islands stands against corruption and the Cayman Islands government and the Anti-Corruption Commission uphold the rule of law and therefore enhance the reputation of the Cayman Islands as an international financial centre.” Dennis Lister, a veteran Bermudian MP for the Progressive Labour Party and speaker of the house of assembly, who chaired the session, said Bermuda could usefully create similar bodies to police its public life. He said, “Both are effective means of addressing standards and corruption.” The session also featured contributions from Ash Regan, a member of the devolved Scottish parliament (MSP) and a former minister in the pro-independence Scottish National Party government who now sits as an independent, and Innes Gardiner, a deputy in the States of Jersey, the executive body of the English Channel Crown Dependency. Regan said that the Scottish parliament had suffered several scandals, including an allegation against a now-suspended MSP involving possession of child pornography and the alleged installation of a secret camera in a bathroom at the Edinburgh seat of the government. Cayman MP Kenneth Bryan highlighted that suspension of MPs left their constituents without a voice in parliament, which was undemocratic, and said there should be “a mechanism that, if people don’t want their MP, to get rid of them.” Regan said that the UK parliament had such a provision, but the Scottish parliament did not. She added, “That’s something we are working towards.” The post-election seminar was organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Cayman Parliament.
