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Anti-Corruption OAS Experts Issue Recommendations on Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago

A committee of anti-corruption experts of the Organization of American States (OAS) adopted the reports on the implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) in Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago, referring to the responsibility of the private sector in matters of corruption, whether the States prohibit and penalize so-called “transnational bribery,” and whether the States have implemented the regulations on cooperation in matters of extradition in cases of corruption, among other subjects.

The full text of the reports by country are available here.

The Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) met this week beginning on Monday, March 22, at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC. With respect to the responsibility of the private sector in matters of corruption, the reports adopted evaluate in detail, for example, the legal-institutional framework and formulate specific recommendations on prohibiting people or enterprises from obtaining tax benefits for payments made while violating the law against corruption, as well as mechanisms for ensuring that mercantile enterprises and other associations keep accounting registries and internal controls that allow their personnel to detect acts of corruption.

The reports also evaluate if the States prohibit and penalize so-called “transnational bribery,” which refers to people or companies of one country paying bribes to public officials in another country in exchange for such officials carrying out or omitting any act related to the transaction of an economic or commercial nature. Another subject that was evaluated was “illicit enrichment,” that is, when a public official increases his or her personal assets significantly from his or her legitimate income while serving the public and cannot reasonably justify it.

In all cases, the reports adopted by the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC examine the objective results the countries have produced in the application of the legal regulations and other existing measures with respect to each one of the subjects evaluated. Taking into account this is the third time these states have been evaluated in said framework, the reports also examine the progress achieved by the states in the implementation of the recommendations that the MESICIC has made in the two prior evaluations.

The MESICIC is a mechanism established in the framework of the OAS in which the member states reciprocally evaluate the application of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. Based on the analyses, specific recommendations are made with respect to the areas in which there are problems or shortcomings that require further progress.

Photographs of the event are available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org

Reference: E-096/10