Bahrain participates in COSP 8 in Abu Dhabi

Bahrain has participated in the Eighth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (COSP8). Director of Legal Affairs at the Interior Ministry, Lieutenant-Colonel Hussein Matar, headed the Kingdom’s delegation to COSP 8.

According to the UAW News Agency (WAM), the United Nations Convention against Corruption is the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument. Adopted sixteen years ago, the Convention has reached almost universal adherence, having been ratified by 186 state parties. Every two years, the States parties to the Convention meet to review the implementation of the Convention and to discuss how States can better tackle corruption.

Among the topics to be discussed at the eighth session are prevention, asset recovery and international cooperation, as well as the preparations for the special session of the General Assembly against corruption, to be held in 2021. His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister has issued directives to restructure internal audit processes within government in order to further strengthen internal auditing and accountability measures.

The directive was announced during a meeting of the Government Executive Committee, which reviewed the 2018-2019 National Audit Office (NAO) report and outlined the procedural and administrative measures taken to address the cases of non-compliance.

Ten cases of criminal nature which have been referred to the Public Prosecution include two violations by the Ministry of Information Affairs, three violations by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs, one violation each by Budaiya Cultural Sports Club, Al Najma Sports Club, the University of Bahrain, the Electricity and Water Authority and the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco).

Twenty-six cases will be referred to the Ministerial Committee for Legal and Legislative Affairs, for assessment internal investigation committee while 406 cases of procedural violations will be addressed by administrative measures in order to prevent reoccurrence. During the meeting, HRH the Crown Prince reiterated the importance of swiftly applying these oversight recommendations, especially in cases of non-compliance in order to safeguard public funds.

HRH the Crown Prince went on to underscore the Government’s commitment to further strengthen the remit and capabilities of supervisory and administrative agencies, which will help facilitate the Kingdom reaching its desired development goals, to the benefit all Bahraini citizens.

HRH the Crown Prince stressed the importance of objectivity and transparency when addressing all non-compliance cases included in the report, in order to ensure continued quality management for operations involved with public service delivery