Government of Timor-Leste

The Minister of Justice, Ivo Valente, attended the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Meeting on the fighting corruption, which was held on March 16^th in Paris, France. In addition to the progress towards an effective global implementation of the laws to combat transnational corruption, the contacts which took place on the margins of the meeting were very productive and important for the international integration of Timor-Leste.

Acting both as the Minister of Justice and as President of the Conference of Ministers of Justice of Portuguese-speaking Countries, Ivo Valente stated in his speech “of the eight states that comprise the Conference of Ministers of Justice of Portuguese-speaking Countries, only two, Brazil and Portugal, are bound by the Convention on Combating Corruption of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions of OECD, notwithstanding all these sates being signatories to the United Nations Convention against Corruption.”

The Minister of Justice referred that “the corruptive phenomenon degrades the foundations of the Democratic Rule of Law, undermines good governance, economic growth and the functioning of market rules”. The Minister also expressed the difficulties that Timor-Leste, as well as other countries, like Angola and Mozambique, face in this matter, in particular the absence of legal classification of a specific crime – that of corruption committed by foreign public officials in international business transactions, “although there are regimes that play indirectly an important role in the fight against this phenomenon, such as the legal framework on the Prevention and Fighting Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing”.

The Minister concluded by saying that it is “essential to develop integrated policies to prevent and combat corruption, raising public awareness on these phenomena and at the same time focus on sharing knowledge in the field of cooperation through a more concerted intervention”. He also warned that “the economic growth of Timor-Leste and its development cannot be at the expense of a non sustainable growth, which does not protect the interests of future generations.”

At the end of the Ministerial Meeting, a Ministerial Declaration was unanimously approved, reaffirming the “determination to meet the challenge posed by the effective implementation of transnational corruption law enforcement, to promote the principles of the Anti-Corruption Convention in each signatory country and to encourage non-parties to this Convention to work closely with the working group, in order to make progress aiming to a worldwide implementation.”

The Secretary-General of the OECD, Angel Gurría, opened this Ministerial Meeting, which was chaired by the Italian Minister of Justice Andrea Orlando, together with Sir Eric Pickles, appointed by the Government of the United Kingdom for the issues on fighting against corruption, and Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General of the United States of America.

On the margins of this meeting, a working meeting was held with the Secretary of Justice of Portugal, Anabela Pedroso, accompanied by Ambassador Paulo Vizeu Pinheiro, Permanent Representative of Portugal to the OECD, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee of this organization. Ongoing actions concerning the implementation of the new Protocol signed between Timor-Leste and Portugal were addressed. Opportunities for future closer cooperation concerning administrative modernization and bringing justice closer to citizens and businesses were also assessed. The areas of legislative simplification and the OECD availability to support specific actions in Timor-Leste, regarding the development of economic and social studies were also assessed.

Courtesy meetings were also held with the Minister of Sea and Defense from Sao Tome and Principe, who is also responsible for Justice and Human Rights, Carlos Stock, with the Minister of Justice of Mozambique, Abdurremane Lino de Almeida, and the Attorney General of Brazil, Rodrigo Janot.