ICO Decision On Bermuda Gaming Commission
Information Commissioner Gitanjali Gutierrez issued Decision 23/2024 about the Bermuda Gaming Commission.
A spokesperson said, “In Decision 23/2024, the Applicant had made a PATI request for records related to executive salaries, annual reports and finances of the Bermuda Gaming Commission as well as for ten of its monthly meeting minutes dated between March 2022 and February 2023. In response to the PATI request, the Gaming Commission disclosed one record of correspondence between the Gaming Commission and the Ministry of Finance regarding an increase to its Government Guarantee and disclosed redacted copies of its meeting minutes.
“It also disclosed a salary range for each of its executives and, during the Information Commissioner’s review, further disclosed the exact salary of each executive. The Gaming Commission denied the request for annual reports and financial statements on the basis that final versions of the records did not exist [as they were only in draft and unaudited form]. Some of these records were tabled in Parliament during this review and therefore were not considered in the Information Commissioner’s Decision. The Gaming Commission also denied the request for correspondence between it and the Ministry of Finance in relation to its annual reports and finances on the basis that records did not exist.
“In her Decision, the Information Commissioner found that the Gaming Commission did not conduct a reasonable search for correspondence between it and the Ministry of Finance [which the Gaming Commission had accepted during the review] and ordered the Gaming Commission to conduct further searches and issue a new initial decision to the Applicant. The Information Commissioner agreed with the Gaming Commission’s interpretation of the request for annual reports, including financial statements, to have been for final reports [not drafts], but she ordered the Gaming Commission to disclose its quarterly expenditures to the Applicant, which it was required to do under the PATI Act.
“Finally, the Information Commissioner found that the Gaming Commission was not justified in relying on the majority of exemptions to redact information in its monthly meeting minutes and ordered their disclosure with fewer redactions. The Information Commissioner noted that most of the redacted information was already in the public domain at the time of the Gaming Commission’s internal review decision and should have been disclosed to the Applicant then. The Information Commissioner found that some information related to law enforcement and its disclosure would have prejudiced the Gaming Commission’s investigation and enforcement of a breach of law. She also found that disclosure of another part of one record would have prejudiced the deliberations of the Gaming Commission, and therefore found that such information had been properly redacted. The Information Commissioner also found that certain personal information should have been redacted in the meeting minutes.
“During her review, the Information Commissioner also notified seven third parties with regard to information related to them, which had been redacted in the meeting minutes. Three of the third parties consented to disclosure of their information, one did not object, two did not respond, and one objected to disclosure of their information. The Information Commissioner found that the Third Party’s objection was not justified.
“The Bermuda Gaming Commission has been ordered to comply with Decision 23/2024 by 10 September 2024.”
The full version of Decision 23/2024 follows below [PDF here]:
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