Regional anti-corruption conference opens in Jamaica with call for stronger integrity agencies

Regional integrity and anti-corruption officials gathered in Jamaica on June 1 for the 12th annual conference of the Commonwealth Caribbean Association of Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption Bodies, with speakers urging stronger cooperation, better laws and more reliable funding to confront corruption across the region.

Lady Anandi Trotman-Joseph, chairperson of the association, said members had come from across the Commonwealth Caribbean and related territories, including Guyana, St Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands. She also noted interest from Dutch St Martin and Aruba in becoming associate members.

The conference brought together Jamaica’s Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency, the Integrity Commission and the Revenue Protection Department, alongside partners including the Commonwealth Secretariat, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, CARICOM IMPACS and the Regional Security System.

Dr Roger Koranteng of the Commonwealth Secretariat said the association was created after it became clear that integrity commissions and anti-corruption bodies across Commonwealth regions were often working separately, with limited staff, weak budgets and heavy mandates. He said governments must properly fund these public bodies, arguing that they are essential to good governance.

MOCA Director General Colonel Desmond Edwards said corrupt activity has changed rapidly with technology, especially as fraud and money movement shifted further online during COVID-19. He said MOCA has expanded cyber forensics, created specialised cyber investigation capacity and strengthened data analysis, including work on cases involving large volumes of digital evidence.

Integrity Commission Executive Director Craig Beresford said Jamaica should treat anti-corruption work as part of a wider regional public good. He said the commission is focused on prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution, and is working on a national anti-corruption strategy, stronger declaration systems, better case management tools and deeper community engagement.

Revenue Protection Department Chief Technical Director Cranson Morgan said Jamaica’s national security policy estimates corruption costs about five per cent of gross domestic product, or roughly $100 billion a year. He said the department investigates fraud and corruption in revenue entities, conducts public education, vets staff and carries out governance and infrastructure audits.

During questions from the media, officials discussed support for agencies facing local pressure, the need to strengthen Jamaica’s Integrity Commission Act, and whether secrecy provisions should be relaxed. Koranteng said such restrictions are common in Commonwealth systems and are intended to protect reputations before matters reach court, though courts may lift them where the public interest requires it.