The Judicial Services Commission has no records that it allowed the payment of $2200 per month in superannuation to suspended Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde.
During the third day of the President’s Constitutional Tribunal to determine any alleged misbehaviour by Mr Pryde, Justice Chaitanya Lakshman said the JSC had confirmed having no records that it authorised Mr Pryde or the Office of the DPP to pay the funds which had accumulated to $288,999.13 which was confirmed by ODPP accountant Sharon Prasad, who took the stand yesterday afternoon.
He said Mr Pryde’s contract had given him three choices on the payment of superannuation: which was to either contribute to a home superannuation fund, to a local (FNPF) superannuation fund or to a fund of his choice (Royal Skandia Life Assurance Ltd).
Justice Lakshman said Mr Pryde’s contract gave him the power to decide which “fund” he would make his contributions to but not to decide on the amount.
Taking the stand yesterday, former ODDP human resources manager Charlotte Nambiar said the monthly contribution was decided by Mr Pryde.
She said after moving from the Solicitor General’s office in 2011, Mr Pryde gave verbal instructions that the conditions from his SG contract be carried forward to his new DPP contract.
Ms Nambiar said the contribution was brought to her attention when she received a letter from Royal Skandia informing them of Mr Pryde’s contributions. She said when she raised the content of the letter with the suspended DPP, she was told to “continue with the payments”.
She said under his contract which began in 2016, Mr Pryde had instructed that payments to Royal Skandia be ceased and the funds diverted to Kiwi Saver.
Ms Nambiar said the payments came from the ODPP’s budgetary allocation for each financial year.
She said none of the contributions were made from Mr Pryde’s salary.
Ms Nambiar, who spent about 15 years with the ODPP, also pointed out that she could not set a tariff nor was she provided any guideline on the amount. She said she had no direct access to the appointing authority, the JSC, about the superannuation contribution and was also instructed by Mr Pryde not to discuss the conditions of his contract with any other authority.
Tribunal chair Justice Anare Tuilevuka explained at the start of the hearing that every effort to get Mr Pryde to respond to each witness had been made and they continued to contact the former DPP to be part of the proceedings before each sitting this week.
The Tribunal continues today.
