Anti-Corruption Commission |27 May 2020
The fight to increase transparency, good governance and accountability continues
The Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles (ACCS) is a self-governing, neutral and independent commission under nobody’s control, authority or direction and is mandated to investigate, detect and prevent corrupt practices as stipulated in the Anti-Corruption Act, 2016.
According to information gathered from Denis Joubert, prevention & education manager, the laws have been strengthened to provide the commission with constabulary and prosecutorial powers to prevent corruption in the public sectors and government entities including in the private sector. There will be further changes to the Act which will facilitate its work in the anti-money laundering field and in the fight against white collar crime.
To date, ACCS has recorded 187 cases of which 66 cases have been closed as at December 2019. Those 66 cases either do not fall within its remit or did not have sufficient evidence. The most common types of corruption allegations registered are; abuse of position/power, conflict of Interest and gratification. Not all of the cases have elements of corruption.
The number of recorded cases is considered as high against the number of investigators (classified). The complex cases take longer as they need specialised assistance from IT, financial and legal specialists. With a shortage of specialists in financial crime, the commission has to rely on its international partners for assistance.
For those cases with an element of corruption, ACCS has to gather all the evidence once it has identified the offence under the relevant laws. It is to be noted that the commission can easily identify up to 450 tasks in some cases though considered as time consuming. It is preparing some cases to be handed over to the AG soon. It is expected that once a principal counsel is recruited, work will continue with the AG’s office on a case by case basis.
Also to date, the commission hasn’t established any case for conviction before the court. But one of its staff members though had a police case brought against him and he was convicted and jailed in 2018 for extortion.
As it cannot work in isolation, the commission relies on other experts in the legal, enforcement and regulatory sectors in the domestic and international arena. The work carried out involves the police, the Finance Intelligence Unit (FIU), Attorney General’s office (for Mutual Legal Assistance), the resident embassies and high commissions, the members of the National AML/CFT Committee of which it forms part and the Judiciary.
The commission also received technical aid and support from the EU and the US government. It also work closely with ICAC Mauritius who has seconded a number of their staff to ACCS in the past couple of years and along with a number of training sessions at their Commission. ACCS has also worked with the International Anti-Corruption Coordinator Centre in the UK while it continues to build its international networks to ensure that it is kept abreast of any new development in the fight against corruption.
ACCS has 30 working staff headed by chief executive May De Silva. More staff are expected to be recruited throughout the year. Though independent, the commission is budget dependent on government funding.
In 2018 the prevention and education department carried out anti-corruption awareness sessions with seven (7) public and one private institution. It also held an awareness sessions with the inner islands heads of government institutions that are found on these islands.
The aim of the awareness programme is to (1) empower individuals, communities, and government, (2) assist in building institutional capacity and improving service delivery, (3) encourage government to work more efficiently greater government accountability and transparency, (4) help the entire society participate in building an enabling environment for equitable and sustainable growth, (4) provide timely and cost-effective service delivery to its public.
In 2019, the department conducted anti-corruption awareness sessions with twelve (12) public institutions out from a set targeted ten (10) institutions for the year. This means that we have achieved our target.
Prior to each awareness session the commission met with the head of each institutions in a formal pre-session meeting so as to find out more about their mandate and to also discuss about future activities which include developing policies and other tools against corruption and risk assessment plan.
The pre-session meeting also allows the commission to customise their presentation to issues pertaining to the specific institution.
ACCS has been working with both the public and private schools targeting the secondary two (S2) to secondary five (S5) level students, as well as to post-secondary institutions/academies and professional centres.
To date, all secondary schools and post-secondary institutions have been covered with the exception of the Seychelles Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture, due to their students being away on work attachment outside the institution.
ACCS was not in operational during the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown and staff were working from home. Its office at Victoria House (4th floor) is now open but not for walk-in clients at the moment in regards to public health regulations related to COVID-19 restriction. Clients are requested to submit their complaints among others, via the telephone (4326061) or email (complaints@accsey.com).
Patrick Joubert