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The Integrity Commission of Trinidad and Tobago have recommended and not mandated that Jack Warner divest of his private interests if he wants to remain as Minister of Works and Transport. This recommendation is in response to a letter filed with the Integrity Commission by Dr. Keith Rowley, Opposition Leader in Parliament. Jack Warner has already made a statement from South Africa where he is at World Cup on FIFA business.

The conflict of interest was raised by Rowley last Friday and culminated in an official letter being sent to Integrity Committee chairman Eric St. Cyr, seeking advice on the situation. Rowley stated in the letter, "I hereby request your urgent guidance on a matter of grave public importance. As a parliamentarian since 1987, I have always understood there to be a convention of Parliament that Cabinet ministers must arrange their private interests, whether pecuniary or otherwise, in such a manner to maintain public confidence and trust."

Paragraph 6 of the Code for Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, which states ministers "shall resign from directorships in all companies", "cease to engage in professional practice" and "cease to be involved in the daily routine work of any business".  This paragraph was quoted by Rowley in his letter sent on June 7, 2010.

Rowley called on the Integrity Commission to enquire from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar about the status of Warner's "continued directorship of CONCACAF and as special adviser to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF).Warner is also a FIFA Vice President, but has already stated his going to resign from all FIFA committees to focus on his job in the Ministry of Works and Transport.

After listing several sections of the Code of Conduct and the Code of Ethics for Parliamentarians, including Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries as approved by Resolution of the House of Representatives on 15 July, 1988, the release from the commission stated, "this Code requires that Cabinet Ministers divest themselves of their private interests upon their assumption of public office. The Commission is of the view that all persons in public life who offer themselves for Cabinet posts should so organise their affairs in order that there be no breach of the aforementioned Code of Conduct or the Code of Ethics."

The head of the Integrity Commission, Eric St Cyr, added, "We have no authority to give directives. We were written and asked to give an opinion and that is what we have done. It is not our authority to decide what the next step in the situation should be."

Jack Warner fired off a statement at approximately 2:45 am today from his base in South Africa where he is attending the World Cup 2010. The statement reads:

I congratulate the Integrity Commission on its expeditious response to the Leader of the Opposition’s request for an opinion on his statement that my positions as a Cabinet minister and as a vice-president of FIFA are in breach of some ethic that he has conjured up in his turgid imagination.

The Integrity Commission has, properly, referenced the relevant sections of the Integrity in Public Life Act and the 1988 Code of Ethics.

Section 29 (1) of the Integrity in Public Life Act asserts, inter alia, that a conflict of interest is deemed to arise if a person in public life were to make or participate in a decision in the execution of his office and at the same time knows or ought reasonably to have known that in the making of the decision, there is an opportunity either directly or indirectly to further his private interest or that of a family or any other person.

I am in full agreement with and heed the Integrity Commission’s summary caution that Cabinet ministers should so organise their affairs so that there should be no breach of either the Act or the Code; as I have meticulously observed. This includes the divestment of pecuniary interests which I may have in any organisation.

Unlike a majority of other members of Parliament, past and present, I seek absolutely no pecuniary interest in being a member of the Parliament or of the Government.I shall have more to say on this issue in the House of Representatives.