The Chief Executive of the Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI), Abdul Fatorma, on Friday 11 January 2019, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to strive for more transparency and to foster compliance with the law and integrity in the private sector.
Fatorma said the partnership will strive to educate the private sector and also work with the ACC with regards better information management.
He stated, “The information management will be done through research, which will help inform the ACC on possible corruption issues in the private sector.” Welcoming the initiative, the Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Ben Kaifala, pointed out that the challenge to fight corruption in the private sector is monumental as Sierra Leone still has weak laws to fight corruption in the private sector. Kaifala further stated that corruption in the private sector takes many forms, among them bribery, undue influence, fraud, money laundering and collusion.
He furthered, “Corruption distorts markets and has a negative impact on society as a whole, in both the developing and the developed world. Private sector corruption contributes to environmental damage, health and safety problems, economic instability and human rights violations by diverting scarce resources, both financial and human.
Private sector corruption erodes confidence in public institutions and deprives citizens of capital needed for economic growth.” Kaifala said the engagement of multiple stakeholders is necessary to create a level playing field and the highest possible standard of ethics and good practice.
He said the ACC wants to work with companies and business associations to promote more robust anti-corruption behaviour.