The proposal for an Act to amend the current laws that prohibit the legal entrapment of public officials was tabled before the House of Assembly yesterday.
The Act, which is viewed by some as controversial as it could lead to penalisation of public officials caught issuing or taking bribes, was tabled by independent MP for St Margaret Pierre Dupuch.
It calls for an amendment to the previous Prevention of Bribery Act, would officially make it legal for the entrapment of public officials in the Bahamas, as a means of rooting out corruption and under-handedness.
Cautioned
Mr Dupuch cautioned that he might be “poking a hornet’s nest with a stick” before reading out his resolution to a deafeningly quiet House.
It read as follows:
“Be it resolved that the prime minister instruct the attorney general to draft amendments to the Prevention of Bribery Act making entrapment legal, and removing the provisions penalising persons offering an advantage to an agent, public body or public servant as defined by the said Act.
“And that the provisions of the said Act be further amended to include ministers, members of parliament, parliamentary secretaries and permanent secretaries as persons regulated by the Act.”
Mr Dupuch asked Prime Minister Perry Christie to instruct the current attorney general Alfred Sears to draft and present a parliamentary bill including the prime minister’s “Code of Ethics” as outlined by the PLP in 2002.
Mr Dupuch asked that the resolved bills be drafted, debated, and passed in parliament before the next general election.
When asked if he believed that the Act would be passed, and if so, whether it would be done before the next election, Mr Dupuch said that it was difficult to say, but added that the House would be hard pressed not to.
“This is not poised particularly at this government; I have been drafting this for years.
“If you aren’t crooked you don’t have anything to hide. This is meant to stop a lot of people wanting to run who only have their eyes on, the money bag.
“So if this law is passed this would put a stop to people accusing people of being crooked and put a stop to people being crooked in my opinion,” he said.
Law
Mr Dupuch said that if the law was passed, any public officials who are rumoured to be susceptible to bribes can be “set up, and brought down”.
“Now, if you are a MP who is on the take, I’d set you up and take you down. Now, if you were on the take before, this would make them straighten up.
“People should not interpret this to being only for the PLP government. I have heard of this kind of activity from the PLP, and the FNM government, but this should put some more transparency to our ministers.
“In the present law, if you bribe me and I do you a favour, if we go to court and you talk, you go to jail with me.
“So a lot of people won’t do that. Now what I’m proposing is that the guy who sets you up and has the evidence could prosecute the minister or official and they would go free,” he said.
Source: Paul G. Turnquest, The Tribune
