Anti-Corruption Conference Puts Focus On The Three Cs

Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) President, Dr. Hyginus “Gene” Leon, says governance has been established as a cross-cutting component of the institution’s business strategy.

Noting that promoting good governance has always been at the core of the CDB’s mandate, Dr. Leon said the Bank has a “fiduciary duty” to “ensure that every dollar of development funding reaches its intended beneficiary”.

He was delivering the keynote address to open the CDB’s second annual digital Caribbean Conference on Corruption, Compliance and Cybersecurity, on Tuesday (December 7).

Dr. Leon said in keeping with its focus, the CDB instituted an internal Strategic Framework for Integrity, Compliance, Accountability in 2015.

He noted that this led to the establishment of an independent office to manage risks posed by malpractices, including corruption, money laundering, terrorist financing, and cybercrime.

“This office helps the CDB to meet its fiduciary duty through internal training, capacity building, fraught leadership, and outreach to our Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs),” the President informed.

Dr. Leon said, externally, the Bank’s 2020-24 Strategic Plan outlines how the institution promotes the adoption of good governance practices as a critical tool to secure sustainable development outcomes consistent with the United Nations (UN) 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Among other measures, this entails effective engagement of and supporting our BMCs in identifying and taking relevant action to counter the factors that can disrupt economic development and exacerbate poverty,” he further informed.

Dr. Leon said the Conference, which is the CDB’s flagship event, “is at the vanguard of our efforts to strengthen awareness of benefits and promote good governance as standard practice across institutions in our region”.

“We focus specifically on three aspects related to the broad topic of governance, namely corruption, compliance, and cybercrime. As part of our multifaceted approach, the 3Cs (corruption, compliance, and cybersecurity) conference has been designed to empower our stakeholders to learn, share, and collaborate,” he stated.

Dr. Leon said, to this end, the CDB has four objectives – identifying and defining the challenges that hinder effective development and determining how solutions can be designed to overcome them; engaging in innovative education to ensure a greater understanding of the nature and impact of corruption on the economic and social development of the Caribbean; designing and delivering enhanced capacity within the CDB and region to strengthen their ability to detect, prevent and investigate corruption and other corrosive conduct; and collaborating with partners to, among other things, create the right environment for learning and sharing.

“This approach will help us to become active creators of knowledge that can inform decision creation,” he maintained.

The two-day conference is being held under the theme, ‘Ending Poverty and Driving Growth… Promoting Good Governance by Curbing Corruption, Money Laundering and Cybercrime in the Caribbean’.

The event has attracted thought leaders from more than 40 countries globally to share and discuss new challenges on and solutions for corruption, compliance, and cybersecurity in the Caribbean.

Speakers will include experienced global anti-corruption practitioners, anti-money laundering specialists, cybercrime professionals, development bankers, policymakers, regulators, law-enforcement personnel, academics, private-sector representatives, and civil society leaders.

Jamaica is one of the 19 CDB Borrowing Member Countries. The entity’s membership also includes four regional non-borrowing members – Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela, and five non-regional, non-borrowing members – Canada, China, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.