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

On October 7, 8 and 9, 2014, the United States of America received, with its consent, an on-site visit by a Commission of the OAS Anticorruption Mechanism (Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption – MESICIC), as part of the review process of that Mechanism, carried out in accordance with the Methodology adopted by consensus by its Member States.

The Commission was composed of the delegations of Argentina and Belize, as the States Parties of the MESICIC comprising the review subgroup for the United States. In this sense, Argentina was represented by Mr. Nestor Baragli, Deputy Director of the Department of Transparency Policy Planning of the Anticorruption Office of Argentina; and Belize was represented by Mr. Marc Ramsay, Crown Counsel in the Solicitor General’s Office of the Attorney’s General Ministry of Belize. 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 senior authorities and other representatives of the Public Integrity Section (PIN) of the United States Department of Justice; the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC); the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE); the Office of Government Ethics (OGE); and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in order to obtain objective and complete information regarding the implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption in the United States.

The Commission also had the opportunity to meet with representatives of civil society organizations and of other sectors, including the Government Accountability Project (GAP); the Project on Government Oversight (POGO); the Association of Government Auditors (AGA); the Committee on Public Corruption of the American Bar Association (ABA); the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE); and the Senior Executives Association (SEA), in order to address issues related to the cooperation between civil society and oversight bodies in the fight against corruption; as well as the role of oversight bodies in the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution and punishment of acts of corruption in the United States.

This on-site visit forms 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 country report on the United States by the Committee at its next meeting, to be held in March 2015, at OAS Headquarters in Washington DC.

The MESICIC is a cooperation mechanism between States, which includes the participation of civil society and other 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, particularly for a peer review mechanism and the importance of the issues it addresses.