Eamon Asks Godwin to Overturn Net Vasquez Appointment to Integrity Commission

Nestor Vasquez

Turning to a another contentious issue for the Opposition…Lead P.U.P. Senator Eamon Courtenay is making a direct appeal to his opposite number, Godwin Hulse, to step in and remove Nestor Vasquez from the duly constituted Integrity Commission, to which he was appointed last week. Following the Senate’s meeting on November thirtieth where Vasquez was confirmed, information surfaced that Vasquez, a chartered accountant of long standing, had stopped being a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants since 2009, a requirement to be nominated under the Prevention of Corruption Act; yet, his name was put forward over that of Warren Coye, the Institute’s chosen representative. Prime Minister Dean Barrow in a letter appeared to apologize to the Institute’s president, Reynaldo Magana, that their choice took so long to be named that he had to urgently recommend the appointment of Vasquez, a friend who has worked for the Government for many years. Courtenay told reporters today that if Hulse is not prepared to intervene, he, Courtenay, will.

Eamon Courtenay

Eamon Courtenay, P.U.P. Senator

“I wrongly assumed that what that certificate was saying was that Mister Vasquez was a member of the Institute from 1985 and continuing until now. The resolution itself says that Mister Vasquez is a member of the Institute. As we all know, the resolution was false and the certificate is expired. And so I have indicated to the Leader of Government Business in the Senate that as a result of the resolution that he has moved, he has misled the Senate; certainly he has misled me, and I believe other members of the Senate took the resolution for what it is worth, what it has stated. Now, it would seem to me that the evidence is very clear that Mister Vasquez is not a member of the Institute; and Section three, subsection three of the Prevention of Corruption Act says that you must be a member of the Institute to be on the Integrity Commission; Mister Vasquez clearly does not qualify. I suggested to the Leader of Government Business that he take steps to correct the situation. If I don’t hear from him, I have been authorized by my party to file a motion in the Senate – which I intend to do tomorrow if I don’t hear from Senator Hulse – rescinding the approval which was fraudulently obtained from the Senate.”