Archives February 22, 2012

Two paramount activities that CAC has done early this year was the drafting of its 2020 Strategic Plan and 2012 Annual Action Plan and having an in-depth discussion on its programs and activities for 2012 to 2014. The meeting took place about a-weeklong and it involved CAC Commissioner, two Deputy Commissioners, all National Directors and Head of Departments. It was important to note that CAC’s 2020 Strategic Plan reflects the views of all staff, which emerges from the Office Retreat in Maubara in December 2011 and its strategic vision: “A Democratic State of Timor-Leste with Strong Culture of Rejecting Corruption in the interest and Prosperity of the People.”  To achieve this goal, CAC decided to divide its plan into medium-terms on a three-year basis.  First three years end on 2014, second three years on 2017 and third three years would be on 2020.

In terms of its Annual Action Plan, the Office tried to incorporate both new programs and pending activities from previous year and turn them into this year’s priorities. CAC’s  2012 priorities programs include strengthen capacity of is human resources especially in the area of investigation, establishment of an independent information system to secure all sensitive document related to its investigation works, continue to promote outreach programs through education campaigns to districts and sub-districts and the establishment of CAC Learning Center.

CAC is fully aware that to implement such programs and activities, the Office needs support and cooperation of all relevant stakeholders including development partners. For the last two years, a number of development partners have been providing support to CAC in different areas including from American Embassy in Timor-Leste, USAID, UN/UNDP, Brazil, Hong Kong and Malaysia. CAC intends to explore other partners’ support for future implementations of its programs.

Aktividade importante tebes ida mak CAC hala’o wainhira hahu tinan 2012 mak trasa nia Planu Estratejiku 2020 no halo revizaun no diskusaun kle’an liu tan kona ba programa no atividade husi tinan 2012 too 2014. Diskusaun ba CAC nia Planu Estratejiku 2020 no Planu Asaun Annual ne’e han tempu durante besik semana rua nia laran iha fulan Janeiru liu ba, involve Komisariu, Adjuntus Komisariu, Diretores no Xefi Departementu CAC nian tomak.  Planu estrajiku ne’e mos refleta hanoin no vizaun husi staff CAC tomak nebe hetan husi retiru iha Maubara iha fulan Dezembru 2011. CAC define tiha ona vizaun estratejiku oinsa atu alkansa “Timor-Leste Estadu demokratiku ida nebe iha kultura forte rejeita korrupsaun ba interese no prsperidade povu nian”. Atu realiza vizaun boot ida ne’e presiza objetivus, programas no atividades nebe orienta ba konkretiza mehi boot ne’e. CAC determina objetivu estratejiku ba tinan 2020 no fahe ba periodu mediu tinan tolu ba tolu hahu 2012 to’o 2014,  2014 to’o 2017 no 2017 to’o 2020.

Atu realiza mehi bo’ot ne’e, CAC presiza kolaborasaun no kooperasaun husi parseirus relevante tomak inkluindu doador sira. Doares no parceirus balu nebe mak durante ne’e fo apoiu ba CAC hanesan: Departementu Justisa Estadus Unidus nian liu husi Embaixada Amerika, USAID, Brazil, Hong Kong, Malaysia. Partisipante sira mos identifika parseiru potensial balu nebe mak husu bo’ot hakarak kolabora iha tempu oin mai.

Iha diskusaun ba nia planu asaun annual, alein de hamosu programas ho aktividades foun, iha mos planu balu nebe mak la konsegue ekzekuta iha tinan kotuk (tamba razaun tekniku), kontinua sai hanesan prioridade ba CAC atu implementa. Pur ezemplu, ekzekusaun programa atu hari edifisiu foun CAC, projetu ne’e la realiza iha tinan kotuk tamba lisensa ba fatin atu hari edifisiu foun CAC nian seidauk hetan husi ministeriu kompetente.

Programa signifikante balu nebe Diresoens CAC nian identifika ona sai hanesan prioridade ba tinan 2012 maka hanesan—formasaun ba rekursu umanus, li-liu iha area investigasaun nian, monta sistema informatiku independente ida atu asegura dokumentus sekretu servisu investigasaun CAC nian, kontinua halo kampanha edukativu no prevensaun ba distritus no sub-distritus sira, no lansamentu centru estudu ka Learning Center CAC nian.

Since its independence over a decade ago, Timor-Leste has ratified a number of United Nations Conventions including the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) ratified in 2009. As a signatory, Timor-Leste is obliged to uphold the Treaties it signed and report regularly about their implementations. The UNCAC implementation aims for State Parties to align their laws and regulations and national system according to the Treaty’s provisions on anti corruption measures.

The 10-year UNCAC review process is divided into two phases. First five-year Self-Assessment Review is focusing two chapters, Chapter III on Criminalization and Law Enforcement and Chapter IV on International Cooperation. Second five-year Review is focusing on Chapter II on Prevention and Chapter V on Asset Recovery. It will assist the State Parties in the process of reforming their national institutions that reflect transparency and accountability in the implementation of national development plan that will promote equality, prosperity, and sustainability.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) established the Self-Assessment Review mechanism to guide the Treaty. The established-mechanism helps facilitate State Parties to report through an electronic device called “Omnibus Survey Software. Each country is expected to have two reviewers, selected through a lottery. Timor-Leste’s reviewers for the Treaty’s first two Chapters are Fiji and Namibia and will be accompanied by two officers from the UNODC Secretariat.

Timor-Leste started to carry out its first Review process in April 2011. The Anti-Corruption Commission was appointed by the Government of Timor-Leste through the Council of Ministers as lead agency and a Focal Point representing the country in the UNCAC review process. Timor-Leste’s review process started with the visit of UNODC team from Jakarta, Vienna and UNDP Bangkok in April 2011. The team conducted a workshop for CAC staff on how to prepare the report and how to respond to the Self Assessment Check List. Following the UNOCD team’s visit, CAC’s Deputy Commissioner for Investigation and Educational Campaign, Jose Neves, traveled to Vienna where he participated in a short-training course regarding the use of Omnibus Software for reviewing the Self-Assessment Review Check-List. Since then the Government of Timor-Leste has been making effort to comply with the review procedures.

As of February 2012, Timor-Leste made some significant progress in terms of responding to questions as highlighted in the Review Check-List. The review document is now under the reviewers’ scrutiny. According to Deputy Commissioner Neves, the preliminary result revealed that Timor-Leste still need to fulfill its obligations in terms of reflecting the Treaty’s provisions into its national laws and procedures and much need to be done regarding preparing enabling environment to comply with the Convention’s obligation. In view of this reality, as part of the review process and coordination among stakeholder, CAC organized a stakeholder meeting on 25 January 2012 together with representatives ranging from executive to legislative, judiciary offices, to civil society organizations to update on the Review process.