Wednesday, January 16 2013

Fr Charles was born on January 9, 1944 and was ordained priest by Archbishop Anthony Pantin on June 27, 1971

Fr Charles was a past student and Island Scholarship Winner of St Mary’s College. He studied for the priesthood in Ireland, at the local seminary of St John Vianney and the Gregorian University in Rome.

He had a doctorate in ethics and was Rector of the Regional Seminary. After his tenure as Rector, he studied civil law and was admitted to practise at the local bar on January 13, 2001.

Charles had a short tenure as Integrity Commission chairman, serving for only six days from May 2 to 7, 2009, before resigning when it emerged that church law did not allow priests to serve in public office and amid allegations that he plagarised material for a newspaper column he once wrote.

In his resignation letter to the Office of the President, Charles apologised, explaining he had not known about the church law before agreeing to accept the position. The priest later disclosed that before his appointment as Integrity Commission chairman, he had told President George Maxwell Richards that he may have committed plagiarism.

In his last column, prior to being named to the commission, Charles admitted to making mistakes in his writings.

Charles resigned as chairman, a day after National Insurance Board (NIB) executive director Jeffrey Mc Farlane stepped down as deputy chairman because he was a public official. Days before their resignations, Justice Zainool Hosein had quit the commission claiming the President had offered him the deputy chairman’s post, which went to Mc Farlane.