The Executive Director of IMPACS, Ms Lynne Anne Williams, will proceed on leave with immediate effect for the duration of the audit. Mr. Francis Forbes, a former Commissioner of Police of Jamaica and Security Adviser to the CARICOM Secretary General, and currently Adviser, Security Crime and Liaison at IMPACS, has been identified to head the Agency in the interim.

These were among the decisions taken by CONSLE at its First Special Meeting which was held at the CARICOM Secretariat Headquarters, Georgetown, Guyana on Tuesday, May 31. The Meeting was called to consider, among other things, the recommendations of the Bureau of CONSLE arising out of the Report of a preliminary investigation into the Agency following media allegations. The Bureau had requested the preliminary investigation at a meeting on 29 April and had received the report at a second meeting on 25 May.

The Council also discussed the Report of an European Union (EU) Institutional Assessment of the Agency, a copy of which was submitted to IMPACS in May 2011. In this regard the CARICOM Secretariat was requested to assist IMPACS with respect to ensuring internationally accepted standards in the areas of accounting, auditing, internal control, procurement, and human resources management systems.

Chairman of CONSLE, Dr the Honourable Errol Cort, Minister of National Security and Labour of Antigua and Barbuda, said the Council was ensuring that all the elements would be in place for robust systems of governance and oversight of IMPACS so that the Region’s security agenda was not compromised.

In moving that agenda forward, the Council reiterated a recommendation made at a previous meeting that the Heads of Government convene a Special Summit on Crime and Security to address the issues in detail.

The Ministers paid particular attention to the United States’ Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) which also involves CARICOM Member States and the Dominican Republic. The meeting received an update from the Chairman on the Initiative and the work of the four technical working groups which had been established. These are focussed on: law enforcement and information sharing; law enforcement capacity building; vulnerable groups in the society and juvenile justice; and air and maritime assets. The last named group is scheduled to meet in The Bahamas today Wednesday 1 June and tomorrow. This will be the last working group to meet after which a Commission established to oversee the overall implementation of the Initiative will meet to consider the reports.

The CONSLE also discussed a consultant’s report on the management framework for crime and security in the Region and established a committee to further review the report and make recommendations to the Council.