Independent Commission Against Corruption – Mauritius A Long Term Comprehensive National Effort and An Holistic Approach To The Fight Against Corruption in Mauritius. The development of Mauritius as a centre for offshore and financial services in recent years has undoubtedly increased the risk of occurrence of economic and organised crimes such as corruption and money laundering. As this may affect the image of Mauritius as a financial center, the Government of Mauritius has taken the initiative against both corruption and money laundering. The Government has devised and implemented a powerful set of interlocking legislative measures to combat these phenomena. This has resulted in the establishment of both the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and the Financial Intelligence Unit. What has been achieved? ICAC has prepared a global plan, which outlines the various strategies to achieve its objectives of fighting corruption and money laundering offences in a coherent and comprehensive manner. It also describes the organization and structure of the ICAC and the way it carries out its responsibilities in accordance with the law. This plan, thus, makes more transparent the goals, expected results and the resources necessary to achieve such results. The strategy applies to the whole country and sustains the mission statement of ICAC namely: “With the community, ICAC is committed to fight corruption through effective law enforcement, education and prevention to help keep Mauritius fair, just, stable and equitable.” Every phase of its development is clearly described in the plan, which is also intended to be a standing document. ICAC is planning for the medium and long term and it is important to appreciate that the business of anti-corruption is not a quick fix. For example it took ICAC Hong Kong, an extremely popular institution with 99 percent of public support, some 28 years to reach where it is today. Time is therefore a determining factor in this endeavour and the ICAC is confident that its efforts will help maintain corruption and money laundering under control. The principles and procedures described in the plan incorporate the best practices adopted in Singapore, Australia, Botswana and Hong Kong. Experiences from anti-corruption initiatives developed by these countries have shown that for anti-corruption strategies to be successful and effective, there should be sustained and simultaneous attention on a number of fronts. Thus ICAC’s strategy plan focuses on an approach that includes three essential components: Enforcement, Prevention and Education. These components are each a vital part of the whole strategy to be implemented using an all-inclusive coherent approach for goal congruence.
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