Senator Charles Sinclair has publicly criticized Chairman of the Integrity Commission, Seymour Panton, for comments made during a recent meeting with the commission’s oversight committee.

Sinclair, alongside Senate President Tom Tavares-Finson, has rebuked Panton’s remarks, noting that they have damaged the integrity of the Senate and Parliament officials.

During a sitting of the Senate on Friday, he defended the integrity of the Senate’s leadership and its clerk, asserting that reports submitted to Parliament have always been kept confidential.

“Several reports from the Integrity Commission have come to this Parliament, and our president has never on any occasion mentioned to me what the contents of those reports are. So I stand in support of his comments, and I believe that the comments that were made impugned the integrity not only of the leaders of this Senate and the lower house but also of the clerk and the officers of the Parliament. I have had discussions with our clerk, and she is also of the same view that from her office and those around her, that process ensures confidentiality of the report has been maintained,” Sinclair said.

Sinclair’s remarks follow a meeting of Parliament’s Integrity Commission Oversight Committee (ICOC), where Panton expressed concerns about leaked reports from the Integrity Commission to the media.

Panton expressed that he found it strange that reports submitted by the commission would be leaked immediately after they left the commission and were sent to Parliament. He further noted if anyone in the commission is leaking the reports, they would be investigated and dismissed.

Additionally, Sinclair took Panton to task for his comments, questioning whether there was something in the water at the nation’s Parliament that caused some parliamentarians to make sometimes inflammatory statements against the commission and its commissioners.

Panton noted that he would be seeking a meeting with Government Senator Dr Saphire Longmore, who is a consultant psychiatrist, because she may need to have a word with some of the Parliamentarians.

Sinclair said the president’s comments were rude, offensive, and out of order and is demanding an apology.