The Integrity Commission has announced that the threshold for filing statutory declarations has been increased from J$3.5 million to J$12 million, while announcing new requirements for members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF).

The adjustments follow the passing of an affirmative resolution by the House of Representatives in December last year. 

However, public officials who occupy certain positions in all ministries, departments, and agencies will still be required to file statutory declarations of their assets and liabilities as of December 31, 2023, and income for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2023, on or before March 31, 2024.

These include permanent secretaries, heads of entity managers, heads of divisions and heads of department directors, senior directors, deputy directors, and assistant directors.

Additionally, principals of public educational institutions, officers involved in the assessment and approval of licences, certificates, permits, and contracts, chief financial officers, financial controllers, accountants, and bursar internal auditors, among others, are still required to file declarations despite the increased threshold.

The 2023 Gazette of positions required to file a statutory declaration will be sent to all public bodies on January 10. The document can be found here. 

All public officials with outstanding declarations for the periods December 31, 2018, to December 31, 2022, must file them by March 31, 2024.

New filing requirements for JDF, JCF 

According to the IC, JCF and JDF senior officers, as listed in the 2023 Gazette of Positions to file Statutory Declarations, are required to file documents for 2023 by March 10, 2024. The senior officers will be expected to file the documents annually thereafter.

“Other JCF and JDF personnel will file statutory declarations every two and three years, respectively. Therefore, other JCF and JDF personnel will next file statutory declarations as of December 31, 2025, by March 31, 2026, and as of December 31, 2026, by March 31, 2027, respectively. All JCF and JDF officers who have outstanding statutory declarations for the periods ended December 31, 2018 – December 31, 2022, must file them by March 31, 2024,” the IC outlined in a release.

The anti-corruption body said it will conduct an annual review of the gazette listing positions for filing statutory declarations to enhance precision in position selection.

In the meantime, the commission is yet to provide an update on the status of the prime minister’s statutory declarations for 2021 and 2022, which have not been certified.

Holness had publicly acknowledged the matter last year, stating that he is in the process of responding to queries from the Integrity Commission regarding his statutory declaration. He said he was concerned that the declarations were not yet certified and hoped to have the matter resolved by the end of 2023.

However, it is now 2024, and an update has not been provided by either party.