A four-day workshop on Corruption Risk Mapping, organised at the initiative of the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) in collaboration with the World Customs Organisation, kicked off yesterday at the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Multilingual Regional Training Centre at the Custom House in Port Louis.
Some 40 participants namely officers from the Customs departments from the WCO Member States are attending the workshop which aims at inculcating appropriate techniques of identifying and assessing the level of risks associated with corruption in organisations assigned the responsibility of revenue collection. The workshop will also serve as a platform for participants to discuss and come up with propositions to better address the issue of corruption and share experience and expertise.
In his opening remarks the Director General of the MRA, Mr Sudhamo Lal, highlighted the importance of training on Corruption Risk Mapping given that his organisation is prone to such risk. Officers should be provided with the right tools and knowhow to address and prevent corruption, he insisted adding that such risks can exist in revenue collection institution hence cause negative impacts such as loss of revenue, waste of resources and reduction in social trust.
According to Mr Lal the Corruption Risk Mapping training will help to develop targeted and preventive measures against corruption so as to ensure that the reputation and image of MRA is improved and that in return it gets the trust and confidence of its staff, stakeholders and the community as a whole. He also reiterated the commitment of the MRA in maintaining the highest level of integrity in the conduct of its daily activities through the adoption of corruption prevention strategies.
For his part the Director General of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Mr Navin Beekarry, recalled the need for revenue collecting organisations to adopt corruption risk mapping strategies to address the issue of corruption. He further stated that as the global regulatory community is moving in a direction where there is more effectiveness, corruption risk mapping is becoming one of the most important issues. It is a prerequisite for organisations to have their own strategies in the fight against corruption.
Several topics will be discussed during the four-day workshop namely: identifying risks and how they are interconnected; provision of a mechanism to develop a robust risk management strategy; and communicating risk management strategy to both management and employees among others. The deliberations will serve towards the drafting of a risk assessment plan on Corruption Risk Mapping.
Source: Government of Mauritius