OAS ANTI-CORRUPTION MECHANISM ADOPTS REPORT ON NICARAGUA

On March 21, 2014, at its Twenty-Third Meeting, the Committee of Experts of the OAS Anticorruption Mechanism (MESICIC) adopted a report on the implementation in the Republic of Nicaragua of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.

This report provides a comprehensive review of the structure, operation and results obtained in the Public Prosecution Service (Ministerio Público – MP), the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (Procuraduría General de la República – PGR), the National Police (Policía Nacional – PN), the Office of the Comptroller General (Contraloría General de la República – CGR), and the Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia – CSJ) of the Judicial Branch., five of the oversight bodies responsible for preventing, detecting and punishing corruption in Nicaragua 

Besides the review, this report contains a set of recommendations to be considered by Nicaragua in relation to the foregoing oversight bodies that address the following:

With respect to the MP, establish objective criteria for defining and determining the special reasons for which a matter warrants the appointment of a special prosecutor; strengthen the Specialized Anti-Corruption Unit and provide it with personnel; establish ongoing training programs primarily for auxiliary prosecutors and prosecutor assistants on substantive matters; establish additional public accountability mechanisms on the performance of its functions, which contain, among other things, procedures for allowing public scrutiny; and strengthen the preparation, maintenance, and posting on the institution’s website of MP statistical data on the performance of its functions.

As regards the PGR, continue to promote effective implementation of the PGR’s 2011-2014 Strategic Plan; establish additional public accountability mechanisms on the performance of its functions; and develop statistical data on the investigations it conducts for all offenses that affect the interests and/or property of the State.

With regard to the CGR, complement the training programs it offers internally with courses and/or modules in ethics, integrity, and transparency; continue to promote implementation of its 2011-2015 Strategic Institutional Development Plan; strengthen its technological platform; enable individuals to report corrupt practices online; complement its accountability mechanisms with procedures that would allow public scrutiny; and prepare statistical data on efforts to detect acts of corruption.

As concerns the PN, adopt appropriate measures to complement the provisions of the National Police Law and its Regulations in the area of human resources; continue strengthening the skills of PN personnel in investigation procedures for acts of corruption; and prepare statistical data on the investigations initiated by the PN into all acts of corruption.

With respect to the CSJ and the judiciary, guarantee the principle of due process in the procedure and grounds for separating or removing CSJ justices from office; conclude the process of updating the Judicial Career Service job descriptions; adopt additional accountability mechanisms regarding performance of the judiciary’s substantive functions; and prepare statistical data on judicial proceedings instituted for all corrupt practices as well as for proceedings before the Full Court and its Criminal Chamber.

In a second part, the report also contains the progress made on the implementation of recommendations formulated to Nicaragua in the First Round of the MESICIC, which highlights the actions being taken by the CGR pursuant to article 4 of the Civil Service Probity Law; the relatively recent adoption of the Public Sector Administrative Procurement Law; the adoption and publication of the “Manual of Administrative Procedures and Management Indicators of the General Directorate for Legal Affairs” by the CGR; the establishment of the PN working group charged with implementing, monitoring, and evaluating anti-corruption recommendations; the conclusion of the coordination agreement between the MP, PN, and PGR on investigation, prosecution, and recovery of assets derived from acts of corruption and related crimes; and the Regional Security Strategy of the PN; as well as the launching of the SIGRUN, the proposed updating of the Plan of Action on implementation of the recommendations made to the Republic of Nicaragua by the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC, and the adoption of the Program to Strengthen Sound Public Management along with the establishment of its National Committee.

Finally, the last section of the report briefly describes a broad set of best practices to which Nicaragua provided information such as the “Anti-Corruption Workshops,” monitoring of cases of crimes against public administration, and the “Interagency Anticorruption System,” which the MP is carrying out; international collaboration in the area of mutual legal assistance through the creation of specialized units, for both international criminal matters and the fight against corruption; ongoing processes of dialogue between the PN and international cooperation in the framework of the so-called “Instancia de Diálogo”; the “Judicial Office Management Model,” promoted by the CSJ to provide users of the justice system effective and efficient service; the Strategy for Advancement, Training, and Implementation of Executive Decree 35-2009 “Code of Ethical Conduct for Executive Branch Personnel,” of the Office of Public Ethics; promotion and dissemination of the Procurement Portal; use of public procurement training tools available on the OAS electronic portal; the establishment of “help desks”; organization by the General Directorate for State Procurement of in-service training for personnel from other States; and implementation of a “Quality Management System in the Directorate for the Civil Service” by the General Directorate for State Procurement of the Ministry of the Treasury and Public Credit.