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OAS Anticorruption Mechanism Holds On-Site Visit to Venezuela

A Commission of the Anti-Corruption Mechanism of the Organization of American States (OAS) held an “on-site” visit to Venezuela from September 30 to October 2 with the country´s consent, as part of the analysis that the mechanism carries out in accordance with the methodology adopted by consensus among its member countries.

The Commission of the Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) was made up of the delegations of Peru and Haiti, as States Parties of the sub-group of review for Venezuela. In that regard, the delegation from Peru was comprised of Supreme Court Justices Victor Prado Saldarriaga and Hugo Príncipe Trujillo; and Senior Prosecutors Rafael Vela Barba and Edgar Alfredo Rebaza Vargas. The delegation from Haiti was comprised of Antoine Atouriste, Director General of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) and Lead Expert to the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC; Joseph Figaro, Director of Operations of the ULCC; and Yvlore Pigeot, Head of the Legal Department of the ULCC. The Commission was supported by the General Secretariat of the OAS, through the Department of Legal Cooperation, acting in its capacity as Technical Secretariat of the MESICIC.

During the three days of work, the members of the Commission met with the top authorities and other representatives of the Office of the Comptroller General; the Office of the Attorney General; the Supreme Court; the National Office of Internal Audit, and the Office of the Ombudsman, in order to obtain objective and complete information regarding the implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption in Venezuela.

The Commission also met with representatives of civil society and private sector organizations, as well as academics, in order to address issues related to civil society participation in public administration; mechanisms of access to information; and the role of oversight bodies in the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution and punishment of acts of corruption in Venezuela.

The results of this visit form part of the review process that is currently being carried out by the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC, and which will conclude with the adoption of the Venezuela report by the Committee at its next meeting to be held in March 2015, in Washington DC at OAS Headquarters.

The MESICIC is a cooperation mechanism between States, with the participation of civil society organizations, established within the framework of the OAS, in which the legal/institutional framework of each country is reviewed for suitability with the Inter-American Convention against Corruption as well as the objective results achieved therein. The incorporation of on-site visits as a stage and integral part of the MESICIC review process represents an innovative and pioneering initiative in the context of the OAS, especially for a peer review mechanism and the importance of the issues it addresses.

For more information on the MESICIC, visit the Anti-Corruption Portal of the Americas.

Reference: E-424/14