WHILE POLITICIANS and pundits quibble about the legal definition of corruption and whether it applies to an increasing number of recent scandals and mea culpas, some amoral pragmatist, believing that possession is nine-tenths of the law, has managed to arrange the disappearance of files containing evidence of irregularities and overruns of some $341 million in the Operation PRIDE investigation.The Prime Minister, in exonerating Dr. Karl Blythe in Parliament, went out of his way to assure the nation that this would not in any way hinder the ongoing investigation of wrongdoing by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
As a matter of such magnitude and national importance, the files, we are told, were protected at the highest security level on a "need to know" basis for the Police Fraud Squad investigation and on a "strictly confidential" basis at the DPP's office where they were locked in a safe.
Both the police and the DPP disclaim any knowledge of the "leak" and Francis Forbes, the Commissioner of Police, has assigned a senior officer to get to the bottom of the mystery. It is difficult to see how the files could have been obtained without inside assistance at a very high level, in which case we would be confronted by a grand conspiracy and cover-up to pervert the course of justice.
The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) would be quite justified in calling for a Commission of Enquiry but since such commissions have lost nearly all their credibility, perhaps a more direct approach would be to bring in Scotland Yard or the FBI to solve the case.
A general stench of corruption continues to rise from more and more of our institutions like the foul smell at the Riverton dump.
This apart, two immediate and serious consequences are likely to follow from these sensitive files having been purloined and leaked.
The first is that the evidence in the files may now be legally compromised, thus thwarting a conviction at trial.
The second is that the names and address of witnesses are now known, exposing them to being intimidated into changing their testimony or even assassination.
In addition to appointing a senior officer to investigate the "leak", we need to know what steps the Commissioner has taken to protect the witnesses and ensure their safety.
This flagrant breach of security undermines the rule of law and is yet another threat to the justice system.
