Seychelles has requested the US Embassy for technical assistance to facilitate corruption investigations and revenue collection. This news is surfacing upon the announcement from the Ministry of Finance.
Naadir Hassan, The Minister of Finance, Economic Planning, and Trade, have made this appeal to the Charge d’Affaires at US Embassy in Mauritius, Judes DeBaere, during his courtesy visit.
Hassan said, “One of my priorities as Minister of Finance is to ensure taxpayers’ money is spent where it is necessary, and eliminating corruption in the public service is a necessity. But we lack the specific skill set to investigate, build a solid case and get a successful prosecution.”
The minister said that they need more specialized technical assistance in this field. People need to know that the government will not tolerate this corruption. Hence they will work on the corruption investigations.
In the Corruption Perception Index survey that came to the surface in January, Seychelles got its highest score in sub-Saharan Africa with 66 points.
The island nation has an Anti-Corruption Commission set up under the Anti-Corruption Act. It gives the authority to investigate, detect and further prevent corrupt practices.
Hassan has also appealed for technical support to the US government for the customs Division and Seychelles Revenue Commission.
On her side, DeBaere said that the US had experts who could assist Seychelles in its fight against corruption to improve its revenue collection.
Hassan said that one of the priorities of the government is to add modernization to the Seychelles Revenue Commission.
“In 2022, my ministry wants to focus on plugging revenue leakages at both entities and to achieve this priority target. We will need to build the capacity of the staff, so once again, we would appreciate it if the U.S. government could assist in this field also,” he said.
The current change if the financial sector got discussed. Hassan spoke in detail about the ongoing efforts of the government to stick to international standards.
This year they have amended a lot of laws to ensure its compliance. It shows that the commitment is there, and they need support to achieve this objective and to remain compliant.