Bahrain joins war on graft
by mahmood on 22/12/09 at 11:11 am · email · print
The Shura Council yesterday backed Bahrain joining the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
Councillors, who passed the decision at their weekly meeting, said they hoped that it would be implemented so that Bahrain joins other countries across the world in combating corruption.
Changes
They demanded that the government utilises the convention to make changes to existing laws to ensure that people found guilty of corruption are punished.
Parliament approved Bahrain joining the convention last month and now it will be presented to His Majesty King Hamad for ratification.
Bahrain has already joined a group of 142 countries which agreed to a mechanism to monitor the UNCAC’s implementation.
The legally-binding convention will oblige countries to prevent and criminalise corruption, promote international co-operation, recover stolen assets and improve technical assistance and information exchange.
The mechanism – agreed during the third session of the Conference of the States Parties to the UNCAC in Doha last month – dictates that all countries must be monitored every five years to see how they are living up to these expectations.
Councillor Rashid Al Sabt said that the bill was in line with the leadership’s reforms that call for transparency and supremacy of law.
“Corruption is a plague and the world is trying to combat it and hopefully, through amended legislation, Bahrain will be capable to root it out,” he said.
Minister of State for Parliament and Shura Council Affairs Abdulaziz Al Fadhel told MPs last month that Bahrain had already taken measures to make its laws compatible with the convention.
He said that the government was keen to combat corruption and cited a current case against a number of tourist inspectors who allegedly took bribes from businessmen.
The six tourism officials are among 17 men who will appear before a court in two months for their involvement in the case.
It is understood three of the investors are at large.
A two-day workshop, organised by the UN Development Programme under council chairman Ali Saleh Al Saleh, last month discussed the convention.
Meanwhile, Bahrain is set to join the GCC Drug Combat Intelligence Centre as the council passed the decision yesterday.
Under the bill, the kingdom will co-ordinate efforts with other GCC countries in combating drug and narcotics trafficking as well as associated crimes. The council’s foreign affairs, defence and national security committee secretary Hamad Al Nuaimi said that the centre would ensure that all GCC countries had easier access to intelligence information. “This will ensure that traffickers are combated in all GCC countries and their networks discovered wherever they are through joint operations,” he said.
Source: GDN · 22 Dec 09
