More than 100 corruption complaints for 2018
More than 100 corruption related complaints were registered with the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) so far this year.
FICAC has received 130 complaints ranging from Abuse of Office; Bribery; Soliciting a Bribe; Abuse of Education Grants; Impersonation of FICAC officers; allegation of corrupt practices and collusion; Obtaining an Advantage; and Fraudulent transactions.
The Commission classifies complaints into categories according to where the alleged incident takes place, like:
1. Majority/Minority owned entities
2. Government Statutory Bodies
3. Government Commercial Companies
4. Government Ministries/Departments
5. Private Entities
Not all corruption-related complaints proceed to court for prosecution.
How the complaints are processed
FICAC has a process in place, where corruption-related complaints are referred to their lawyers at the Legal Assessment Unit, to assess the complaint and give their legal opinion on how best the complaint should proceed. The legal opinion is submitted to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, who directs the Investigation department to carry out investigations on the complaint. For any complaint to proceed to Court, it must have credible, relevant and sufficient evidence to sustain a criminal charge. Having the complaint registered as corruption related is just one step of the process. It is imperative to understand that investigations into complaints take time to gather evidence and to ensure that the evidence collected is credible, relevant and sufficient.
Number of corruption cases
FICAC has also seen a decrease in the number of corruptionrelated complaints that were reported in 2018 compared to 2017. From January to April 2017, a total of 160 corruption-related complaints was reported to FICAC. Further, in terms of the overall number of complaints, for the same period of January to June, 2017, a total of 2190 complaints were reported to FICAC. In January to June 2018, the total complaints reported to FICAC dropped to 994. This noted a decline of 1196 complaints compared to last year.
The significant decline in the total number of complaints received by FICAC can be attributed to members of the public being empowered with accurate
information disseminated by the Corruption Prevention department through corruption preventive trainings and awareness sessions that are carried out by the Research and Advocacy officers to all sectors of the society.
The Commission’s awareness programmes have not only helped the working sector, but the grass roots level as well in terms of filtering information for knowledge empowerment, ensuring that FICAC is partnering with all citizens of Fiji in the fight against corruption.
Through the Commission’s corruption prevention trainings and awareness, members of the public have learned the demarcation of corruption-related complaints from non-corruption complaints. Non-corruption related complaints are referred to the Government Referral Centre and other relevant authorities. Further, people have been able to understand the Commission’s mandated roles and functions; the relevant laws and the penalties that corruption and bribery offences carry according to the laws that criminalise these offences. The Commission’s awareness sessions help to inform and advise members of the community on best practices in the use of Government funded projects and the proper use of Government educational grants to school managements.
FICAC continues to receive requests for refresher trainings on its corruption prevention programmes.