Integrity Commission gets UK anti-corruption plan By DARCEL CHOY Friday, January 23 2015 The Integrity Commission was yesterday presented with a copy of the United Kingdom’s anti- corruption plan. At the ceremony at the Commission’s office at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port-of-Spain, Charge d’Affaires Charles Moore said the idea of sharing the plan was not to tell Trinidad and Tobago what it should be doing, but to show what the United Kingdom has been doing. “It’s to show you what we’ve been doing in the UK, what our plan of action is, how we intend to address issues of corruption in our society and suggest that some of our actions may be transferrable and applicable in other societies as well,” he said. Chairman of the Commission, Justice Zainool Hosein said he and Moore held informal discussions last month on how the UK could assist the Commission in its work in the prevention of corruption of persons in public life in general and to preserve and promote the integrity of public officials and institutions. He noted that at the time, there was an embargo preventing the plan from being transmitted but after it was lifted at 11 am on December 18, a decision was made to have a formal handing over. Hosein said after looking over the plan, the Commission noticed the foreword drew attention to the fact that the UK has a strong track record of tackling corruption “with the level of corruption in the UK far lower than the majority of other countries around the world.” “It is an enviable status clearly worthy of emulation,” he said. He noted that the strategies for the reduction of corruption in the UK plan which had 61 actions set out, could be described as the four P’s - pursue, prevent, protect and prepare. Pursue, Hosein said, was strengthening the ability to investigate, prosecute with better coordination of agencies. Under this head includes dealing with laundering of corrupt funds and the return of stolen assets. Under prevent, he said, these included measures to strengthen the integrity in key institutions. “Protect, under this are included publications of threats from corruption and making data open involving risk assessments — the courts, prisons and the financial sector and prepare, includes working with overseas partners to reduce the impact of international bribery and corruption in the UK and UK business,” he said. Hosein said the plan will be carefully studied and they look forward to collaborating with the UK’s National Crime Agency. Attending the ceremony were Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Susan Francois, Director of the Police Complaints Authority David West, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Chairman Victor Hart, Joint Consultative Council President Afra Raymond and Jennifer Khan of the Central Tenders Board. newsday.co.tt/news/0,205970.html
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 04:50:20 +0000
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