Anti-Corruption - Pāruruʻanga Ravekino
Cabinet formalised the Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) on 20 September 2011 to revive and complete the process required for the United Nations Convention Against Corruption to be acceded to by the Cook Islands. The ACC's role is to promote and strengthen measures to prevent and combat corruption by, inter alia, proposing anti-corruption policies to Cabinet and following up on matters that may be referred to it by Cabinet.
The ACC provides a forum for the committee members to share information, expertise, and resources as appropriate for achieving ACC's goals and objectives.
The ex officio members of the ACC are:
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The Solicitor-General, Crown Law Office;
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The Commissioner of Police, Ministry of Police;
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The Head of FIU, Financial Intelligence Unit;
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The Ombudsman, Ombudsman’s Office;
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The Director of PERCA;
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Director of Audit, Audit Office;
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Financial Secretary, MFEM;
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The Public Service Commissioner; and
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The Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The ACC may also invite others to join the Committee or to attend meetings as necessary.
The MFEM Financial Secretary, Garth Henderson, currently chairs the ACC.
Purpose
The Cook Islands have ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption ("UNCAC"), which acknowledges that "corruption hurts people experiencing poverty dis-proportionately undermines a Governments ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice and discouraging foreign aid and investment. Corruption is a key element in economic underperformance and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development” (UNCAC, 2004, p.iii). The Cook Islands Government is committed to the provisions of the ADB/OECD Asia Pacific Anti-corruption Action Plan Initiative in 2003 ("APACAP").
Local anti-corruption legislation includes but is not limited to the bribery provisions of the Crimes Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, the MFEM Act 1995-96 and the PERCA Act 2020. The Government confirms the importance of collective leadership, teamwork and partnerships within and outside the Government to effectively combat corruption and the need to involve the community and private sector. However, the Government acknowledges the limited resources and, therefore, the effectiveness of a cooperative approach in the fight against corruption as opposed to individual efforts. The Government reinforces their commitment to promote and strengthen anti-corruption measures and practices (Cabinet Minute CM (11) 0369).
What is Fraud / Corruption?
The definition of fraud varies among countries; however, in simple terms, fraud is any act or omission that intentionally misleads or attempts to mislead a party to obtain a financial or other benefit or to avoid an obligation. For this communication, fraud includes:
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Corrupt practice, which is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting, directly or indirectly, anything of value to influence the actions of another party improperly;
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Fraudulent practice, which is any act or omission, including a misrepresentation, that knowingly or recklessly misleads or attempts to mislead a party to obtain a financial or other benefit or to avoid an obligation;
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Coercive practice, which is impairing or harming, or threatening to impair or harm, directly or indirectly, any party or the property of the party to influence the actions of a party improperly;
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Collusive practice, which is an arrangement between two or more parties designed to achieve an improper purpose, including influencing the actions of another party improperly;
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Abuse, which is theft, waste or improper use of assets related to government activity, either committed intentionally or through reckless disregard;
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Conflict of interest is any situation in which a party has interests that could improperly influence that party's performance of official duties and responsibilities, contractual obligations, or compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
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Obstructive practices, which include:
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deliberately destroying, falsifying, altering, or concealing evidence material to an investigation;
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making false statements to impede an investigation materially;
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threatening, harassing, or intimidating any party to prevent it from disclosing its knowledge of matters relevant to the investigation or from pursuing the investigation; or
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materially impeding contractual rights of an audit or access to information.
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Retaliation against whistleblowers or witnesses, which is any detrimental act, direct or indirect, recommended, threatened or taken against a whistleblower or witness in a manner material to a complaint because of the report or cooperation with an investigation by the whistleblower or witness.
Anti-fraud and Anti-corruption Policy
The Cook Islands Government is committed to the provisions of the ADB/OECD Asia Pacific Anti-corruption Action Plan Initiative in 2003 ("APACAP"). Local anti-corruption legislation, which includes but is not limited to the bribery provisions of the Crimes Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management (MFEM) Act 1995-96 and the Public Expenditure Review Committee and Audit (PERCA) Act 2020.
The Government confirms the importance of collective leadership, teamwork and partnerships within and outside the Government to combat corruption and fraud effectively and the need to involve the community and private sector. However, the Government acknowledges the limited resources and, therefore, the effectiveness of a cooperative approach in the fight against corruption as opposed to individual efforts. The Government reinforces their commitment to promote and strengthen anti-corruption measures and practices (Cabinet Minute CM (11) 0369).
The MFEM considers any fraud and corruption as very detrimental to the realisation of its vision and will; therefore, MFEM will not tolerate fraud and corruption in its activities and operations.
Therefore, the MFEM will focus on the following key policy objectives:
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Establishing a systematic commitment to the implementation of the Anti-fraud and Anti-corruption Policy for all staff members, consultants and service providers who collaborate with the MFEM; this includes consequences for involvement, directly or indirectly, in the act of fraud, corruption or wrongdoing.
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Establishing proactive prevention through a due diligence obligation for MFEM staff.
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Considering integrity and impartiality in all stages of tenders examination and assessment, selection of suppliers and procurement procedure or during services implementation or payment. Each member involved, from within or external to the MFEM, has to commit to the fight against fraud, corruption and wrongdoing.
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Providing an independent and confidential whistleblowing procedure to report any reprehensible practice, conduct necessary investigations, and regulate reported acts.
In this context, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management (MFEM) has developed the Anti-Fraud and Anti-Corruption Policy 2018.
In addition to the Anti-fraud and Anti-Corruption Policy, MFEM also has in place a Whistleblowing Procedure.
Whistleblowing Procedure
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Management (MFEM) considers fraud and corruption as detrimental to the realisation of the vision and objectives of the Ministry. As such, the MFEM has adopted an Anti-fraud and Anti-corruption Policy. The main elements of this Policy can be summarised as follows:
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Establishing a systematic commitment to implementing the Anti-fraud and Anti-corruption Policy for all staff members, consultants and service providers who collaborate with the MFEM; this includes consequences for involvement, directly or indirectly, in an act of fraud, corruption or wrongdoing.
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Establishing proactive prevention through a due diligence obligation for MFEM staff.
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Considering integrity and impartiality in all stages of tenders examination and assessment, selection of suppliers and procurement procedure or during services implementation or payment. Each member involved, from within or external to the MFEM, has to commit to the fight against fraud, corruption and wrongdoing.
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Providing an independent and confidential whistleblowing procedure to report any reprehensible practice, conduct necessary investigations, and regulate reported acts.
The Whistleblowing Procedure 2018 summarises the MFEM procedure for treating fraud, corruption or similar acts with all transparency, independence, and rigour.
Anti-money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing
The Cook Islands has a reputation as a sound and well-regulated jurisdiction. The country needs to maintain this reputation to continue attracting legitimate investors with funds and assets untainted by criminality. Anyone in the Cook Islands that assists with facilitating financial misconduct, whether knowingly, unintentionally or without regard to what they may be facilitating, could face law enforcement action as well as the loss of reputation and customers. This kind of conduct also damages the reputation of the Cook Islands as a whole.
The Financial Transactions Reporting Act 2017 (the Act) replaces the Financial Transactions Reporting Act 2004 and, along with the Financial Transaction Reporting Regulations 2017 (the Regulations), provides the legal framework in which reporting institutions must have in place compliance systems to assist with the prevention, detection and prosecution of financial misconduct.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Management (MFEM) is a low-risk organisation in terms of its financial transactions, given that its transfer of funds into the country is only from development partners, who are governments and multilateral organisations already committed to combat money laundering and counter-terrorism financing. However, MFEM recognises that the fight against money laundering and financing terrorism is a global issue and that an important stakeholder in the Cook Islands Government, it must be committed to playing its part in the country's commitment against money laundering and financing terrorism.
The Anti-money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Policy aims to provide the perspective of the MFEM on money laundering and financing terrorism and the actions it will undertake to prevent money laundering and financing terrorism. The Policy is aligned with the Practice Guidelines for Financial Transactions Reporting Act 2017, issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit in August 2017.
This Policy also recognises the legislations and regulations related to financial misconduct.
Complaints Process
Contact should be made direct with the relevant agency based on the nature of the complaint. Click on the tab to download the document to establish the complaint type and agency to contact.