Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) President Dr Warren Smith on Monday used the forum afforded him on the opening day of the inaugural two-day Caribbean Conference on Corruption, Compliance and Cybercrime to target “those who seek to circumvent systems and processes,” asserting that it was critical that institutions like the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) employ diverse strategies to stay ahead of those who seek to “circumvent systems and processes”.
In what was evidently a thinly veiled reference to challenges associated with ensuring accountability in the disbursement of development and crisis-relief funding emanating from financial institutions, Smith said that the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic had put into focus what he described as the thorny and constantly evolving nature of corruption and how it can reverse development gains in the region.
In a presentation that appeared anchored to the theme of corruption in a crisis environment currently being articulated by Heads of international organisations in a recent succession of virtual conferences on managing the COVID-19 crisis, Smith sought to remind both governments and populations in the region that one of the disturbing tragedies of the advent of the coronavirus is that it has created the conditions in which corruption thrives and put into focus the thorny and constant nature of the phenomenon and how it can erode development gains in the region.
With COVID-19 creating a significantly enhanced need for the channeling of financial aid and other forms of support to hard-hit countries, including those in the Caribbean, Smith told the forum that the reality of the pandemic was opening up new avenues for exploiting systems with weak oversight. The conference was staged against the backdrop of the increasing need for countries in the region to make credible cases for attracting international financial support in their fight against the global pandemic in circumstances where the global clamour for such support has never been more intense, and in circumstances where multilateral financing institutions had begun to attach anti-corruption criteria to the allocation of resources to countries seeking support.
Asserting that corruption was “an age-old problem” with “a remarkable capacity for reinvention,” Smith said that it was important that institutions like the CDB employ diverse strategies to stay ahead of those who seek to “circumvent systems and processes”.
“Corruption matters, even when it is not in our peripheral vision. It matters to governments and corporate leaders because of the speed with which it can lead to significant financial and reputational damage and retard economic development. It matters to our youth, the next generation of employers, workers and service providers who will face constant temptation when they enter the workplace, and sometimes, even earlier. And it matters to our citizens who pay the price for corruption through reductions in the quantity and quality of social services, decaying infrastructure, and inefficient state institutions,” the CDB President argued.
Seeking to paint with a broad brush, the forum discussed a range of corruption-related issues including anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, sanctions compliance risks, blacklisting, and dealing with illicit financial flows.
