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OAS Anti-Corruption Mechanism Released Report on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

The Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) of the Organization of American States (OAS) adopted the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines report on the implementation of this treaty in the framework of the Fourth Round of Review of the Mechanism, during its Twenty-Fourth Meeting held at the headquarters of the hemispheric institution in Washington, D.C.

The report provides a comprehensive review of the structure, operation and results obtained in the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Director of Audit (DOA), and the Service Commissions Department of the Public Service Commissions (SCD), four of the main oversight bodies responsible for preventing, detecting and punishing corruption in the Caribbean country.

The review was carried out mainly taking into account the information provided by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as the information gathered during the on-site visit conducted, with the approval of the country in review,  in Kingstown in April of this year by a committee comprising representatives of Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis and the MESICIC Technical Secretariat, who met with representatives of the aforementioned governmental bodies and representatives of civil society and the private sector of Saint Vincent and Grenadines.

The report contains a set of recommendations to be considered by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with regard to the bodies reviewed, among which are the following: with respect to the Office of the Attorney General, establish inter-institutional coordination mechanisms to assist and ensure that public agencies abide by their legal obligation of requesting the Office of the Attorney General’s legal advice in a timely and correct fashion, particularly in matters involving acts of corruption.

As regards the DOA, provide the DOA with the human and financial resources necessary to ensure due compliance with its constitutional and legal duties, chiefly as regards conducting audits and detecting corrupt acts that trigger responsibility for the persons involved therein.

With respect to the DPP, take the necessary steps to conclude the effective implementation of the National Prosecution Service in order to strengthen, inter alia, the DPP’s powers of supervision over procedures carried by police prosecutors.

Concerning the SCD, consider updating the provisions that govern the SCD, in particular the Civil Service Orders for the Public Service of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which were enacted prior to the 1979 Constitution, and bringing them into line with the current standards necessary for the correct, honorable, and due performance of public functions.

In a second part, the report also contains the follow-up on the recommendations formulated to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the First Round, for which the Committee, in previous reports, considered that additional attention was required.

Along with the report on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, other reports were also adopted with regard to Belize, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, and Suriname, which are available here.

The MESICIC is a cooperation mechanism between states, with the broad participation of civil society organizations, 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 initiative in the context of the OAS, which has strengthened even more so this reciprocal review mechanism. For more information, please visit the Anti-Corruption Portal of the Americas.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-377/14