ANTICORRUPTION AUTHORITY PRESSES EFFORTS

UNCLAS RABAT 000062 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR INL/AAE, NEA/PI AND NEA/MAG STATE PLEASE PASS USTR - P BURKHEAD TUNIS ALSO FOR MEPI REGIONAL OFFICE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS ECON KCOR PGOV KMPI MO SUBJECT: ANTICORRUPTION AUTHORITY PRESSES EFFORTS REF: 08 RABAT 0887 ¶1. (U) Summary: In its first year, Morocco's Central Authority for Corruption Prevention (ICPC), established by the Government as the coordinating body for the fight against corruption, has initiated work on several draft anti-corruption laws. While Morocco's Transparency International corruption ratings worsened in 2009, recently the Government has sought to reinvigorate anti-corruption efforts. In December 2009, the Government set up an inter- ministerial commission to oversee and update Morocco's anti-corruption strategy. In January, in cooperation with the private sector, the government instituted an ethics and corruption oversight body for the Customs Administration. At a recent meeting with Ambassador, the ICPC put forward several ideas for possible cooperation with the Embassy. End summary. -------------- FOCUS ON ANTI-CORRUPTION LEGISLATION -------------- ¶2. (U) On January 14, the Ambassador, Economic Counselor and EconOff met with ICPC President Abdesselam Aboudrar and several members of his ICPC team. Aboudrar, one of the founders of NGO Transparency Maroc, outlined the ICPC's plans. The ICPC became operational in January 2009 with a mission to ensure inter-ministerial coordination in anti-corruption efforts and to evaluate the effectiveness of the Government's actions (reftel). Aboudrar emphasized that the ICPC's focus is prevention, not prosecution and investigation of corruption cases. ¶3. (U) The ICPC has emphasized areas of corruption that most directly affect common citizens, including traffic enforcement, public health services, the justice system and urban planning. Aboudrar told the Ambassador the ICPC is drafting legislation on whistleblower protection and on public access to information. The ICPC is also developing tools for prevention of conflicts of interest. Aboudrar explained that although the ICPC does not adjudicate corruption cases, it forwards corruption complaints it receives to the Ministry of Justice for follow- up. ¶4. (SBU) Aboudrar said that in 2010 the ICPC plans to increase its staff from 25 to 45 members and open several regional offices. He conceded that the Moroccan Government has not yet allocated sufficient funding for these projects. He felt confident that the ICPC would obtain an increased budget, he said, since the ICPC "enjoys support of the highest level." -------------- NEED TO INCREASE SANCTIONS -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Aboudrar noted that increasing sanctions for corruption was essential, since Moroccans will not believe that there is political will to fight corruption unless criminals are punished. He explained that in Morocco corruption is often not considered a crime, but a common fact of everyday life. Aboudrar opined that the Government needs to tackle both high-level and petty corruption. Petty corruption, he explained, affects daily lives of people, and it can even be a "question of life or death" if someone needs to pay a bribe to get medical care. Aboudrar also stressed the need to regulate monopolies and introduce measures to increase the government's transparency and accountability. -------------- TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL RANKING WORSENS -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The Ambassador emphasized that corruption in the judiciary is a serious deterrent to increased American investment in Morocco. Aboudrar told us that the ICPC would address corruption in the judicial system through a series of public debates planned for 2010. Although government officials frequently cite corruption as one of the key obstacles to development, the public perception is that the problem worsened over the last decade. Transparency International (TI) ranked 89th Morocco in a list of 180 countries included in its 2009 Corruption Perception Index Survey. With a 3.3 index on a scale from 0 to 10, Morocco's ranking slid by 9 places from 2008. According to TI, real estate is the sector perceived as most affected by corruption, and the judiciary is considered the most corrupt public institution. Aboudrar recently told the press that the fight against corruption is a long-term undertaking and it would take some time for the country to reap the benefits of the efforts it makes to curb the phenomenon. -------------- --- GOVERNMENT REINVIGORATES ANTI-CORRUPTION EFFORTS -------------- --- ¶7. (SBU) In December 2009, the Government of Morocco formed a ministerial-level commission tasked with updating the government's anti-corruption strategy and developing a set of new laws, including a draft law on access to information and a draft law on whistleblower protection. The ICPC will work closely with the ministerial commission. On January 19, the Customs Administration, in cooperation with the quasi-official private sector association, the General Confederation of Moroccan Companies (CGEM), established a watchdog body tasked with collecting information and providing analysis on ethics problems and corruption within the Customs Administration. The "observatory" will help identify areas particularly prone to corruption and will follow up on implementation of its recommendations. ¶8. (SBU) The Government of Morocco has recently taken part in several international and regional initiatives to improve public governance. In November 2009, Morocco took over the co-presidency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Initiative on Good Governance and Investment for Development. Morocco will also chair the third Convention of the State Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2011. -------------- -------------- ICPC OUTLINES IDEAS FOR COOPERATION WITH THE EMBASSY -------------- -------------- ¶9. (SBU) ICPC Secretary General Rabha Zeidguy presented several areas for possible cooperation with the Embassy to help Morocco's anticorruption effort. These include: promoting ethics in the public sector; developing tools and indicators for evaluating effectiveness of inspection and control bodies of the government and judiciary; promoting e- government as a tool to fight corruption; and engaging speakers to participate in debates on corruption in the judiciary. ¶10. (SBU) Comment: We agree with many observers that the public perception of the government's determination to tackle corruption will depend largely on whether there are prosecutions of well- connected, large-scale operators. If all the "big fish" appear to escape the net, broad support to crack down on petty bribe-taking by police and health care personnel will dissipate. It is too early to conclude that Aboudrar and his colleagues on the ICPC have the high-level backing they will need to pursue an evenhanded approach to rooting out corruption. The Mission intends to continue to support the ICPC's efforts while waiting for the evidence to come in, financing not only performances of an anti-corruption play through public diplomacy and Middle East Partnership Initiative funds but also seeking new vehicles to highlight the anti- corruption message. End Comment. Kaplan