Economic Governance and Management 588. 589. 590. 222 Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Economic Governance and Management do represent an initiative that other African countries may wish to emulate. However, to strengthen this effort, the authorities may wish to consider establishing an organ at the highest level of the government, like the PMO, responsible for monitoring the implementation of the recommendations contained in these CPRs. The National Assembly may also wish to consider overseeing the implementation of these recommendations. iii. Recommendations 591. The APR Panel recommends that: The institution responsible for money laundering is the FIU. Banks, accountants, lawyers, real estate agents, foreign exchange dealers and jewellers must report all cases of suspicious financial transactions to the FIU. The FIU investigates these reports. The FIU then writes reports on credible allegations of money laundering to ICAC, the police, customs administration, the MRA and other appropriate bodies for further action. Breaches of regulatory rules and responsibility by banks and other financial institutions are also reported to the BoM, the FSC and other regulatory bodies. Another major responsibility of the FIU is to exchange intelligence and information on money laundering with other countries. The FIU publishes an annual report on its activities. Given the nature of its activities, it is difficult to assess the achievements of the FIU. One measure that the FIU itself suggested and uses is the number of suspected transactions reported to it. The 2008 Annual Report shows that, according to this criterion, the FIU is not performing well. Cases reported to the FIU fell from 134 in 2007 to 103 in 2008. As the FIU itself notes, this level of reporting is rather low for an economy in which financial services account for about 12.5 per cent of GDP. • • • • • • • • The loss of skilled and trained staff is a major problem facing the FIU. The institution progressed by increasing its human resources between 2002 and 2006. However, it then started losing qualified staff to the private sector that offered higher salaries and better terms and conditions of service. Steps were taken towards the end of 2008 to improve the salary structure of the FIU, but this has not fully addressed the challenge of recruiting and retaining qualified staff. This problem deserves the attention of the Mauritian authorities to make the FIU more effective. i. Summary of the CSAR 592. The CSAR focuses on the two major regional groupings where Mauritius is a member. These are the SADC and COMESA. It also touches on Mauritius’s interest in the regional integration of Africa as a whole and Mauritius as a link between Africa and Asia. 593. Mauritius’s objective for participating in arrangements to promote subregional and regional integration are to improve its negotiating position on international trade forums, facilitate trade with partners, and improve integration with the multilateral trading system by liberalising trade. Efforts should be strengthened to convince key stakeholders and the public that the government is serious about the fight against corruption and that no one is immune to prosecution for corruption. [PMO and the media] ICAC should conduct surveys on corruption more frequently than once every six years, as is the case at present. [ICAC] The requirement that ICAC can only prosecute corruption cases with the approval of the DPP should be reconsidered. [ICAC and the DPP] Ways and means of increasing protection for whistle-blowers should be investigated. [ICAC] Ways and means of accelerating the investigations conducted by ICAC should be explored. [ICAC] A mechanism, at the highest level of government and in Parliament, to follow up on the implementation of the recommendations and findings contained in the annual reports of ICAC and its CPRs should be established. [PMO and Parliament] The human resource capacity of the FIU should be strengthened. [FIU] Cooperation with neighbouring countries, to deal with the problems of tax evasion and money laundering, should be reinforced. [ICAC, the FIU and the Central Bank of Mauritius] Objective 5: Accelerate regional integration by harmonising monetary, trade and investment policy 223