Former Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Central, Dwayne Vaz, has pleaded guilty to breaching the Integrity Commission Act in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.
He entered the verdict before Parish Judge Carlo Mason on Tuesday.
The former MP will return to court on June 6, 2024, for sentencing. His bail was extended until then.
Vaz, who was a legislator at the time, failed to file the required statutory declarations for 2019, despite numerous reminders from the Integrity Commission.
According to the commission’s report, Vaz had filed his personal statutory declaration for 2019 on time but failed to provide financial information for Estelar Global Services Limited, a company he was a director of between 2014 and 2021.
Despite being given a deadline and several reminders, Vaz did not provide the information until March 5, 2021, after the notice to discharge liability had been served.
Vaz had initially claimed he had no outstanding documents for the Integrity Commission and stated his commitment to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and transparency. However, he ultimately pleaded guilty to breaching Section 43(3) of the Integrity Commission Act.
The Integrity Commission’s director of corruption prosecution had ruled that Vaz should be charged.
As stated in the commission’s report, “Checks made with the Information and Complaints Division revealed that on March 5, 2021, prior to the expiration of the notice to discharge liability, Mr. Vaz provided the requested information.”
However, the payment of the fixed penalty was not made, leading to the conclusion that Vaz failed to discharge his liability consistent with the Integrity Commission Act.
