THE BAHAMAS RECEIVES ON-SITE VISIT OF THE OAS ANTICORRUPTION MECHANISM (MESICIC)

National authorities of The Bahamas with the representatives from Costa Rica and the OAS General Secretariat.

With the consent of The Bahamas, from September 23 – 25, 2014, an on-site visit was carried out in Nassau by a team of the OAS Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC). The team was composed of the Ms. Tatiana Gutiérrez Delgado, Lead Expert of Costa Rica to the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC and Public Ethics Prosecutor in the Attorney General’s Office, and Mr. Rodrigo Silva, Legal Officer in the Department of Legal Cooperation of the General Secretariat of the OAS.

Prior to its commencement, the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs for The Bahamas, the Hon. Allyson Maynard Gibson, as well as the senior authorities from her institution, welcomed the representative from the General Secretariat and shared with him the importance and significance to The Bahamas the on-site visit as part of the efforts carried out by the OAS, through the MESICIC, in the fight against corruption.

Subsequently, during the three days of work, meetings were held with representatives of the Office of the Attorney General, the Public Disclosure Commission, the Office of the Auditor General, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Compliance Commission, and the Public Accounts Committee, in order to obtain objective and complete information and reveal potential difficulties in the implementation of the Inter-American Convention. The team also obtained information on the implementation of the recommendations that were formulated by the MESICIC to The Bahamas in the First Round, pertaining, among other issues, to the prevention of conflicts of interest and post-employment restrictions; systems for registering income, assets and liabilities of public servants; and the regime for access to information.

The team also had the opportunity to meet with civil society and private sector organizations in order to obtain their perspectives on the role of said oversight bodies in the fight against corruption.

Mr. Garvin Gaskin, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions; Mrs. Cleopatra Christie, Consultant/Case Management; Mr. Franklyn Williams, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions; Mrs. Cheryl Grant Bethell, Deputy Law Reform Commissioner; Mr. Rodrigo Silva OAS; the Hon. Allyson Maynard Gibson, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs; Mrs. Cynthia Gibbs, Acting Permanent Secretary; Mrs. Deborah Fraser, Director of Legal Affairs; and Mr. Delmon Rolle, Senior Assistant Secretary.

The results of this visit forms part of the review process for the Fourth Round that is currently being carried out by the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC, which will conclude with the adoption of The Bahamas country report by the Committee at its next plenary 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.