The Government’s commitment and mandate is to deal with systemic corruption, says the Attorney General Mr Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
Speaking at the International Anti-Corruption Day celebrations in Suva yesterday, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the United Nations Convention Against Corruption(UNCAC) was one of the first international conventions that Government ratified without reservations in 2008.
Since that ratification, he said, Fiji had participated actively in the international scene to become part and parcel of the international movement to remove systemic corruption.
“What that has also meant is that Fiji, without any pressure, without any duress, has voluntarily become part and parcel of the peer review process,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
“What the peer review process means is that we, as a country, have said to other countries in the UN family, who have ratified the convention, that you can come and assess us as to how well or how badly we are doing.
“Last year was our first review and we were reviewed by two countries; France and Serbia. This year and in the coming year, we will be reviewed by United States of America and Bangladesh.
“This form of peer review, we believe, is very beneficial for us. Not many countries carry out the peer review and I think only about 40 countries, of the 200 countries under the convention, actually go through the peer review process.”
The AG also highlighted some of the actions taken by the Government to eradicate corruption.
“We brought about a new promulgation which is the Prevention of Bribery Promulgation which brings about modernity into our ability to prosecute crimes relating to bribery and corruption,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
“Similarly, we have also revamped the 100-year-old penal code into the Crimes Decree which recognises that modernity and technology is now the norm and therefore our laws need to be similar or need to catch up and in fact be ahead of many of these changes that are taking place in the business sphere, in the trading sphere and in the international trade exchange area.”
He added that systemic corruption deprives the general population of access to resources, of access to services.
“It ultimately creates a black economy and with a black economy the government cannot go and fix the roads and hospitals etc. So it is essential that we realise and understand what corruption does,” Mr Sayed Khaiyum said.
The AG also urged the people of Fiji to work together with the Government so that systemic corruption can be removed.
“It’s not just a fight by FICAC, it’s not just a fight by Government, it’s a fight by all of us. All of us as Fijians, we need to understand that it is for our benefit that we need to carry on with this work,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum added.
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