Regional body focuses on fight against corruption

(CNS): The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, said he was gratified by the growing interest of countries in the region in the fight against corruption. Opening a regional conference in Washington, he listed a number of achievements made in the Americas in the goal to tackle corruption. At the conference participating countries discussed mutual cooperation to encourage concrete commitments from governments to improve transparency and access to information.

Speaking at the opening of the 20th Meeting of Experts of the Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) at OAS headquarters, Insulza stated, "It is gratifying that this is the twentieth time that this Committee has met and it confirms that our countries have a growing interest in participating.”

The Secretary General of the OAS said that, through MESICIC, the organization continues to help countries strengthen their legal and institutional frameworks to address corruption, to make concrete recommendations so that they can benefit from the provisions of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, and “to prevent, detect, punish and eradicate this scourge, through its proper implementation."

Among the achievements reached by MESICIC during the past Third Round of Committee of Experts, Insulza listed the detection of bribes disguised as legitimate expenses intended to be used to obtain tax benefits, criminal liability for companies that pay bribes, both in the case of domestic and foreign officials, the establishment of accounting requirements that prevent the formation of "front companies" whose purpose is to commit acts of corruption, and avoiding that the defense of "professional secrets" serves as an obstacle to denouncing corruption.

Insulza said the General Secretariat had supported states by providing tools to facilitate the implementation of national action plans, a project which 17 States have already taken on and promoted exchange between countries of knowledge and experience in fighting corruption. He added that the OAS continued to make available more and better tools to help them in the fight.

The Twentieth Meeting of the Committee of Experts of MESICIC took place between Monday 10 September and Friday 14 September.