Contractor General Dirk Harrison
THE joint select committee (JSC) of Parliament, which has reviewed the Integrity Commission Bill, has rejected a proposal from the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) to bar “politically exposed persons” (PEPs) from becoming members of the commission.
The committee, in its report to Parliament tabled in the House of Representatives recently, said that it saw no need for an additional restriction relating to political exposure to be adopted.
The committee said that following a disagreement with the OCG, which had requested that no PEP be considered for the commission, it had obtained the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) definition of such persons.
According to the committee, FAFT defines a PEP as an individual who is or has been entrusted with a prominent public function. It said that the FAFT’s June 2013 guidelines indicated that it was recognised that politically exposed persons were in positions that could potentially be used for the purposes of committing money laundering offences, including corruption, bribery as well as conducting activities related to terrorist financing.
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