A Commission of the OAS Anticorruption Mechanism (Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption – MESICIC) visited Paraguay, from September 30 – October 2, 2015, as part of the review process of the Fifth Round of said Mechanism, carried out in accordance with the Methodology adopted by consensus by its Member States.  

The Commission was composed of the Director of the Legal Division of the General Direction  of Government Ethics and Integrity (Dirección General de Ética e Integridad Gubernamental  - DIGEIG) of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Alberto Basora; and the Chief Executive Officer of the State Asset Recovery Agency of Guyana, Aubrey Heath-Retemyer. These officials were supported by the General Secretariat of the OAS in the visit, represented by the Senior Legal Officer of the Technical Secretariat of the MESICIC, Marta Laura Martínez.

During the three days of work, the members of the Commission met with representatives of the Public Prosecution Service (Ministerio Público), the Civil Service Secretariat (Secretaría de la Función Pública), the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, the National Directory of Public Procurement (Dirección Nacional de ContratacionesPúblicas) , the Office of the Attorney General (Procuraduría General de la República), and the Judiciary, in order to obtain objective and complete information and reveal potential difficulties in the implementation of the Inter-American Convention.

The meetings focused on issues related to systems for government hiring, training and remuneration; the government systems for the procurement of goods and services; and systems for protecting those who report acts of corruption and the criminalization of such acts of corruption under Paraguayan law.

The Commission also had the opportunity to meet with civil society organizations, private sector organizations, and professional associations.

 The results of this 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 Paraguay  country report by the Committee at its next plenary meeting to be held in March 2016, in Washington DC at OAS Headquarters.

 For more information on the MESICIC, please visit the Anti-Corruption Portal of the Americas at www.oas.org/juridico/english/fightcur.html