OAS ANTI-CORRUPTION MECHANISM ADOPTS ECUADOR REPORT

At its Twenty-Third Meeting, held March 18 – 21, the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) adopted the Ecuador report on the implementation of this treaty in the context of the Fourth Round of Review of the Mechanism.

A significant portion of the report focused on examination of those oversight bodies in Ecuador with the responsibility for the prevention, detection, punishment and eradication of acts of corruption. Accordingly, the report examines the Citizen Participation and Social Oversight Council (CPCCS), the State Prosecution Service (FGE), the Office of the Comptroller General of the State (CGE), and the agencies of the Judiciary and the Judicature Council. 

The examination was carried out taking into account Ecuador’s response to a questionnaire, information gathered by the Technical Secretariat, and, as a new and important source of information, an on-site visit conducted October 1-3, 2013. This visit was carried out by a team comprising of Chile and Venezuela, as well as members of the MESICIC Technical Secretariat. During that visit, the review team met with representatives of the aforementioned government institutions as well with representatives of civil society organizations, the private sector, professional associations, academics, and researchers on issues of relevance to the review.  

Some of the recommendations formulated to Ecuador for its consideration in connection with the aforementioned bodies are, among others, the following:

With regard to the CPCCS: strengthening inter-institutional coordination; implementing internal regulations for processing complaints, allegations, and claims related to the pursuit of its objectives and to the performance of its personnel; creation of an Internal Audit Unit; and strengthening the institution by providing it with the human and budgetary resources necessary to ensure full compliance with its duties of preventing, detecting, and investigating acts of corruption..

Regarding the FGE: updating its post classification manual; strengthening the institution by providing it with the human and budgetary resources necessary to ensure full compliance with its duties; strengthening information systems and procedures to streamline the preliminary inquiry and follow-up process in order ensure the timely processing of cases, particularly those related to corruption; and the removal of obstacles, so prosecutorial inquiries into the crimes of embezzlement and illicit enrichment can be launched promptly. 

Pertaining to the CGE: finalize the implementation of the Organic Organizational Process Management Statute of the Comptroller General’s Office; strengthening the institution by providing it with the human and budgetary resources necessary to ensure full compliance with its duties of overseeing the statements of net worth presenting by employees of the public administration; and developing mechanisms for the more efficient and expeditious restitution of harm caused to the State.

With respect to the agencies of the Judiciary and the Judicature Council: implementing the new judicial career; implementing the Organic Functional Post Classification Manual and the Occupational Index of the Judicature Council, together with their corresponding internal manuals; implementing the Organic Organizational Process Management Statute of the Judicature Council; and establishing an comprehensive information system to gather data on the substantiation of different types of crimes in general and specifically those considered in the Convention.

Some of the recommendations still pending from the First Round or have been reformulated address issues such as: strengthening the oversight agency responsible for the implementation of the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, continuing to enforce measures for the imposition of restrictions on those leaving public service, and repealing its desacato contempt laws.

The best practices regarding which Ecuador provided information involved, essentially, the FGE’s implementation of the Integrated System of Prosecutorial Actions (SIAF) which seeks, inter alia, to reduce the backlog of cases related to reports of indications of criminal liability submitted by the CGE; and the creation of the Judicial Function’s Management Transparency Unit, the powers and responsibilities of which include ensuring transparency and efficiency in the Judicial Function and strengthening inter-institutional anticorruption coordination.