OAS ANTI-CORRUPTION MECHANISM ADOPTS REPORT ON DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Within
the Framework of the Fourth Round, the Committee of Experts of the
MESICIC, during its Twenty-Third Meeting, held from March 18 to 21,
2014, adopted the report on Dominican Republic by consensus, following a
careful examination of the information provided by that country, as well
as that gathered during an on-site visit carried out from October 8 to
10, 2013, by a review subgroup composed of Honduras and Uruguay, with
the support of the General Secretariat of the OAS. At that on-site
visit, meetings were held with Dominican Republic authorities as well as
with representatives of civil society organizations and professional
associations. The following aspects of the report should be highlighted:
First, recommendations were formulated to Dominican Republic for its
consideration, with respect to the oversight bodies selected by
Dominican Republic to be examined in the Fourth Round, among others, as
follows:
With respect to the Bureau of Governmental Integrity and Ethics
(DIGEIG), consider giving its creation the rank of law approved by
Congress; adopt its operating regulations, procedures manuals for its
main areas, and mechanisms for institutional coordination with certain
entities; provide it with the staff that it needs to perform its
functions, as well as sufficient funds to provide them with specialized
training; ensure that public-sector institutions act in a timely manner
to supply it with the information and documents that it needs to proceed
with investigations in its area of responsibility; adopt follow-up
mechanisms that enable it to know the outcome of the penalties that it
recommends and of the complaints of acts of corruption that it refers to
the appropriate authorities; and keep statistics on the foregoing in
order to identify challenges and recommend corrective measures.
Regarding the Office of the Special Attorney to Prosecute Corruption in
Public Administration (PEPCA), formalize the adoption of its Internal
Regulations on Investigation Policy and Procedures; update its
Organization and Functions Manual; define the significance criteria by
which to stipulate guidelines for selecting cases that will be handled
directly by the Office of its Director; take the appropriate steps to
ensure the technical, administrative, and functional independence of the
PEPCA and of its prosecutors; adopt a more expedite procedure for
recovering assets associated with acts of corruption; select its
technical and administrative staff based on a system of merit; provide
it with sufficient prosecutors and investigators; strengthen training
mechanisms for its specialized staff; and examine the causes that might
have contributed to acts of corruption being declared time-barred for
legal action, with a view to identifying challenges and recommending
corrective measures.
Concerning the Judicial Branch (PJ), adopt the necessary measures to
allocate the judiciary the appropriate budget in accordance with the
law; put into operation the criminal courts that have been created by
the law but are not yet operational; ensure implementation of the
“Hearings Audio Capture” modernization project and the line of action on
“systematization, creation, and dissemination of jurisprudence and
judicial documents” envisaged in the Strategic Plan 2009-2013, in the
country’s criminal justice system, particularly where corruption is
concerned; ensure the territorial expansion of the criminal court office
management model (MGDP); impart to criminal court judges specific
training in trying acts of corruption recognized in the Criminal Code;
and prepare statistics on corruption cases before different courts in
the judiciary, in order to identify challenges and recommend corrective
measures.
In relation to the Court of Accounts of the Dominican Republic (CCRD),
adopt a more expedite procedure for recovering, through civil
proceedings, assets linked to declarations of civil liability; adopt
appropriate measures to enable the CCRD to conduct effective oversight
in municipalities; ensure that the Dominican Municipal League provides
the CCRD with appropriate cooperation; ensure execution of the
objectives contained in the Strategic Plan for Institutional Development
and Sustainability 2010-2016 (PEDSI) on which progress is low; take the
appropriate steps so that the CCRD can effectively exercise its
budgetary autonomy and can request international organizations to
provide it with the economic and technical assistance necessary to
provide its personnel with specialized training and to ensure it the
logistical support and information technology equipment that it
requires; update its Human Resources Regulations; and adopt a monitoring
system that would enable it to know how the competent authorities
process cases in which it has declared administrative and civil
liability, in order to identify challenges and recommend corrective
measures.
As regards the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR),
consider reforming the law that created the National Internal Control
System and the CGR, in order to make it consistent with the new
constitutional provisions in that regard; adopt the Rules of Procedure
on Public Servant Liability envisaged in that law; draft a plan of
action on “Implementation of a System of Societal Comptrollership”;
provide it with the necessary resources to adapt its technology platform
to the needs of its operational structure and to implement its
Information Technology Strategic Plan; allocate it the necessary budget
funds to carry out the activities connected with the goals in the
Institutional Strategic Plan 2010-2012 that correspond to the strategic
objectives of “Institutional Strengthening” and “Operations,” which are
pending or have been postponed until the next Plan; and provide it with
the necessary resources to carry out its responsibilities, in
particular, with respect to control of the decentralized sector and
municipalities, as well as for providing training to its staff and
having specialized staff and better physical infrastructure.
Second, as a result of the follow-up to the recommendations formulated
to Dominican Republic in the First Round, the Committee made a
determination as to those which still have to be considered, including,
among others, those aimed at the following purposes: strengthening
implementation of laws and regulatory systems on conflict of interest,
so as to allow practical and effective enforcement of a system of public
ethics; strengthening the operating capacity of the General Bureau of
National Property so that it can properly perform its responsibilities
in terms of creating and maintaining an inventory of state-owned
property; continue and improve the work performed by the General
Accounting Office in organizing the State's accounts, ensuring that it
has the necessary resources to carry out its work; improve systems for
control and evaluation of the contents of declarations of income,
assets, and liabilities; moving ahead with the implementation of the
General Freedom of Public Information Act; strengthening existing
consultation mechanisms; and strengthening and continuing the
implementation of mechanisms to encourage civil society and
nongovernmental organizations to participate in public administration
and its follow-up.
The report also summarizes the progress made in the implementation of
those recommendations, including, the legal measure adopted with regard
to the Civil Service Law, which expressly prohibits spouses and
relatives up to the third degree from working in the same institution;
the appointment of a governing body on conflict of interest; the
allocation to that body of responsibilities with regard to receipt and
investigation of complaints of alleged violations of ethical and
disciplinary standards, which also has electronic mechanisms to
facilitate lodging such complaints; the preparation of an online form
through which obligated government officials can submit sworn
declarations of assets; the presentation of an annual financial report
by those officials to complement their declarations; the public
availability of copies of those declarations via the PEPCA website; the
appointment of the Ombudsman; the designation of a governing body on
freedom of access to public information; and progress in standardizing
the websites of public-sector agencies based on that body's guidelines,
as well as in the opening of public information offices.
In addition to the foregoing, the report highlights the best practices
that the Dominican Republic provided information, which in summary,
refer to the standardization of the websites of public-sector agencies
based on DIGEIG guidelines; the creation of a Forensic Audit Unit
attached to the PEPCA, which assists investigations in the area of
financial analysis and provides expert evidence; the Judicial Career
System, “which governs the entry, training, promotion, separation, and
retirement of judges based on the principles of merit, ability, and
professionalism”; and implementation and follow-up of the National
Internal Control System through the adoption of the Basic Standards on
Internal Control (NOBACI) the aim of which is “to standardize processes
and controls in government entities.”
During this Twenty-Third Meeting, similar reports were adopted for
Nicaragua, Canada, Ecuador, and Guyana. The Dominican Republic report
adopted by the Committee, as well as the aforementioned countries, are
available at:
http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/mesicic4_rep.htm
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Edition N° 173 - March 2014
The Mechanism For Follow-up on the
Implementation of the Inter-American
Convention against Corruption, known as MESICIC for its Spanish acronym, is a tool to
support the development of the Inter-American
Convention against Corruption through
cooperation between States Parties.
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