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21:20 GMT
DEAD SEA, Jordan, Jan 21 (KUNA) -- The regional conference on the United
Nations Convention against Corruption started in Jordan's Dead Sea resort
Monday evening.
The conference is reviewing the anti-corruption mechanisms in the Arab
countries in light of the provisions of the convention.
Kuwait's delegation to the event is led by Chairman of Judicial Inspection
Authority Justice Youssef Al-Mataw'a and includes Advocate General Riyadh
Al-Hajeri, Advocate General Bader Al-Mus'ad, Director of International
Relations Department of the Ministry of Justice Zakaria Al-Ansari and Chairman
of Kuwait Transparency Society Salah Al-Ghazali.
Kuwait believes in the objectives of the UN Convention against Corruption
and backs the implementation of the document on the local, regional and
international levels, Al-Ansari said in a statement to KUNA here.
Kuwait thinks it is important to launch new mechanisms to ensure effective
implementation of the document provisions particularly those related to
retrieval of usurped properties to their original owners, he pointed out.
Jordan's conference is being held one week ahead of the conference of
signatories of the UN Convention against Corruption, due in Bali, Indonesia,
on January 28, Al-Ansari noted.
The Kuwaiti National Assembly is mulling three anti-corruption draft bills.
The Kuwaiti Minister of Justice and Minister of Social Affairs and Labor
Jamal Al-Shibab instructed the formation of a panel, chaired by him, to
oversea the implementation of the judiciary policy and review the UN
Convention against Corruption, he disclosed.
The Ministry of Justice works with the civil society institutions to in
line with the fifth article of the convention regarding the implementation of
the anti-corruption measures, he pointed out.
The official delegation to Bali conference will include representatives of
Kuwait Transparency Society, Al-Ansari added.
In his inaugural address to the ongoing conference, Jordanian Minister of
Justice Ayman Awdeh said the conference would discuss launching a regional
anti-corruption network in the Arab world.
The planned mechanism aims to facilitate exchange of information and
experience in the combat against corruption, he disclosed.
It will include registers of conduct of public sectors, the judiciary
authorities, the general prosecution departments of the Arab countries.
The network envisages retrieval of usurped properties and enforcement of
anti-corruption legislations, the minister revealed.
For his part, Minister of Justice of the United Arab Emirates Mohammad
Nakhira al-Dhahiri hailed the UN Convention against Corruption as an
independent trans-border mechanism for combating the crimes of corruption.
He reviewed in his address to the conferees the experiments of the UAE in
the fields of financial supervision, auditing and accountancy.
The UN Convention against Corruption is joined by 140 countries including
16 Arab ones.
A total of 103 countries, including 11 Arab countries, have endorsed the
document and enforce its provisions.
The eleven Arab countries are; Kuwait, Jordan, UAE, Algeria, Djibouti,
Qatar, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania and Yemen.
The three-day conference is being organized by the UN Development Program
in cooperation with the Jordanian Ministry of Justice. (end)
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