'Walker should be charged'

Former Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker, the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) candidate for Central Manchester, was yesterday referred by Contractor General Greg Christie to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) for criminal prosecution.

Christie yesterday said Walker should be charged for "obstructing" the Office of the Contractor General's (OCG's) probe into the Jamaica Customs Department's alleged illegal exports of scrap metal in contravention of a standing Cabinet/ministerial order without first securing the requisite government licences or authorisations.

The former Customs boss has also been formally referred to the DPP for prosecution for his failure to comply with a lawful requirement of a contractor general.

Fresh from a landmark victory in a court case where Patrick Wong, the former chief executive officer of the National Works Agency, was convicted and slapped with a fine for failing to comply with the lawful requisition of the contractor general, Christie said he was confident the OCG's "referrals herein to the office of the DPP are well founded".

Christie yesterday complained that the refusal and/or failure of Walker to cooperate with the OCG's probe, and to comply with its lawful requisition, had seriously obstructed and impeded the progress of his investigation which commenced on November 4.

But in a response yesterday afternoon, Walker said he had every intention of complying with the investigation being conducted by the OCG.

"The difficulty that I am having is that I am no longer the commissioner of Customs and do not have access to the files necessary to complete a response to the contractor general's request," Walker argued.

According to Walker, some of the questions from the OCG would require him to get information from other government departments "and I have requested those files through my attorneys".

Always complied

Walker sought to assure that he fully supported the work of the Contractor General and had always complied with his requests in a timely manner.

"I will complete his request in the shortest possible time," Walker pledged.

The former Customs head said he had nothing to fear from an investigation into scrap-metal exports and "look(ed) forward to a resolution of this matter".

However in his release, Christie said he was "very concerned by the un-submissive and seemingly defiant and arrogant stance that has been taken" by Walker.