Publicité
Consensus on anticorruption law
It was about time that the Prevention of Corruption Act (POCA) 2002 was amended. Last Friday, the government and the opposition rejoiced over the adoption of the amendments to the law that had been the object of much controversy lately. Both sides applauded this new version especially since it includes amendments proposed by opposition leader Paul Bérenger.
The Appointments Committee of the ICAC has been abolished. The institution will be managed by a general director appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the opposition leader. A board comprising the general director and two other members will be set up.
The abolition of the Appointments Committee means that the president of the Republic doesn’t have any power left over the ICAC. Under the POCA 2002, he was the only one who could appoint the committee if there was a problem with the commissioner and his deputies or with the way they managed the institution. Despite the will of both former PM Bérenger and the then opposition leader, Navin Ramgoolam, to convene the committee, the president never thought it necessary.
The fight against corruption has not made a step forward since the creation of the ICAC. With the amendments, the three commissioners should soon get the sack and be paid the necessary compensation in a very near future.
The new director will have to be either a Supreme Court judge for ten years or a magistrate for ten years or a member of the bar for ten years; or someone having worked at the top management level in an anticorruption body abroad.
Clear qualifications</B>
The first version of the law to be introduced in Parliament last Tuesday did not include these criteria for the appointment of a general director. But the opposition leader proposed to the PM not to introduce the law until he had made sure it includes specific criteria for the appointment of the director. He said he was “worried” about the absence of clear qualifications for the post. And the PM accepted to make the necessary changes. In fact, the government feared it would not find anyone for the job if the profile was too rigid. But the PM and the opposition leader finally reached an agreement on the issue.
With the new law, the three advisory committees of the ICAC are abolished. However, the parliamentary committee will be given more powers. The committee – comprising five members of the government and four of the opposition – will be entitled to take disciplinary action against the director if the latter is proved negligent, if he commits irregularities or if he misbehaves. Hence there is no more risk that the director will feel “untouchable” as it may have been the case for the commissioners.
Although Paul Bérenger denies that the former government wanted to go too fast with the POCA 2002, he admits that they went wrong with the remuneration package of the commissioners. However, he explains that there is a difference between the letter and the spirit of the law. In other words, the law was good – “avant-gardiste” according to his words – but the ICAC did not work properly.
The consensus should – hopefully – help the fight against corruption. The aim is to reduce and gradually wipe out white-collar crime totally. Both camps admit that the ICAC has not delivered and there has been no condemnation so far… Statistics speak for themselves. The Supreme Court has also taken the commission to task in a few cases.
Publicité
Publicité
Les plus récents
