The National Parliament, through Commission C for Matters of Economy, Finance and Anti-corruption, with USAid and Asian Foundation support, organized an international conference on the impact of corruption in view of national development, which took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 21st and 22nd of April.

The President for Commission C, Manuel Tilman, interview by the Government Portal, considered corruption as a great obstacle to development, in terms of human, economic and financial development. “From the moment corruption emerges, the money from public tax revenue passes on to the hands of certain people and that reflects a negligent mentality, with a tendency to destroy the structure of the Country”.

Manuel Tilman referred that the conference’s objective is based on two fundamental sectors: prevention and investigation. Once the conference was concluded, Parliament will discuss on the viability of creating an anti-corruption network where all parliament deputies, university academics, students and religious persons must be involved and whom, hand in hand, will fight against corruption. The same conference represents an annual activity by the Commission for Economy, Finance and Anti-corruption, serving as an advanced initiative by Parliament.

This conference counted with the presence of the General Prosecutor, the President of the Court of Appeal, the Purveyor for Human Rights and Justice, Dr. Mari Bin Almude Alkatiri, the political parties, a few members of Government, Diplomatic Representations and Civil Society. The speakers were the GOPAC Secretary-general, John G. William, a member for Committee P III from Indonesia, Eva Kusuma Sundari, an advisor for the National Parliament, Prof. Dr. Yohannes Usfunan, Drs. SH, M.H and ASS Singapore representative, Dr. Teng Khee Fatt.