Getting Tough on Corruption in Cuba

Getting Tough on Corruption in Cuba

By Patricia Grogg



HAVANA, Jul 3 2013 (IPS) - As two separate trials of foreign businessmen

continued amid extreme discretion, the Cuban government passed new

anti-corruption measures, apparently indicating the Raúl Castro

government's desire to avoid loose ends with this thorny problem.



Castro, who is in his second and last five-year presidential term, said

"the shameful matter of acts of indiscipline and illegalities" would be

addressed "in-depth" during the parliament meeting set for Saturday Jul.

6. More than once, the president has said that such actions are a threat

to the foundations of the country's social system.



People posting comments on Café 108, the interactive section of the IPS

Cuba bureau's website, expressed scepticism about the possibility of

short-term results in the crackdown on corruption, a problem that some

described as a "product of the crisis" or a phenomenon "present in

everyday life for Cubans."



It is "damaging to the country, a bad example for the coming

generations, insufficiently fought, tolerated, insufficiently reported

by the media, not criticised at all among the populace, permitted in the

family, a way of life for meeting household needs, and a breeding ground

for the enemy," wrote one participant, who signed as "Naue," and also

noted what had happened to essayist Esteban Morales after he published

articles on the issue.



In a recent interview that circulated on the Internet, Morales said that

the problem was being tackled, but still insufficiently.



In his opinion, the public should be urged to act. "Innovation is needed

for combating corruption, because none of the methods used until now

have managed to eliminate the problem. And I think innovation could lie

in organising the masses, not the bureaucrats, for this battle," he told

IPS.



While other analysts agree that legal measures alone are not enough for

addressing this delicate matter, changes and steps taken in that area

are part of a broader effort toward institutionalisation in Cuba

undertaken by Castro, who began by creating the Office of the

Comptroller General of the Republic in 2009.



In June, Cuba`s Central Bank began enforcing a number of general

regulations for detecting and preventing illegal movements of capital,

money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and changes to the

penal code and procedural law were introduced. These regulations

followed the creation in March of a state oversight agency tasked with

uprooting administrative corruption.



Economists consulted by IPS said bank regulations would not discourage

foreign investors.



However, a Latin American executive doing business in Cuba warned that

operations with foreign clients would become more complicated due to the

larger amount of information that will have to be requested by Cuban

banks, which are also obligated to establish verification procedures.



The executive, who is associated with the banking sector, said these

rules were not new to him, given that regulations in the sector were

passed some time ago in his country. And Pável Vidal, an academic and

specialist in financial matters, told IPS that the regulations "are in

line with the new times."

"At an international level, banks are tending to use more caution and

control for all types of transactions," he said. Among other measures,

financial institutions must verify a client's identity with reliable

data from independent sources, continuously monitor the commercial

relationship, and prevent the "opening of coded or numbered accounts."



In another decision this year, the Council of State, presided over by

Castro, announced a decision to create a state oversight commission,

whose principal mission will be "the presentation, analysis and study of

significant cases where illegality, suspected criminal actions and

corruption are manifest."



The new body, charged with "intensifying the study of the causes and

conditions that give rise to acts of corruption," and with curbing and

eliminating the problem, replaces and confers the rank of state agency

on a government commission with the same purpose that existed since 2008

as a government advisory body.



The commission's president is Gladys Bejerano, who has been Comptroller

General of the Republic since that office was created to increase

internal control and "to directly confront any manifestation of

corruption." Bejerano has gained a reputation for vigorously fulfilling

her duties.



In the context of what the official media calls the "perfecting of

Cuba's criminal justice system," in October a number of changes to the

penal code and criminal procedural law will go into effect, with the

goal of updating current regulations and bringing them into harmony with

other changes taking place in the country's social and economic life.



At the same time, the Supreme Court instructed that "particular

attention" was to be paid to cases involving foreign suspects or Cubans

who are permanent residents of other countries; that the former should

be guaranteed consular access as an "essential requirement" for their

defence; and that they should not be tried without the proper diplomatic

steps being taken.



In May, foreign businessmen were tried on corruption-related charges in

two separate trials. Neither the trials, held behind closed doors in

Havana, nor the sentences handed down were reported in the state media.

There were no official announcements about the matter, either, even

though international news agencies reported on the cases.



The foreign press reported that Canadian businessman Sarkis Yacoubian,

originally from Armenia and owner of the import company Tri-Star

Caribbean, and Lebanese citizen Krikor Bayassalian were sentenced in

late June to nine and four years in prison, respectively.



Meanwhile, Amado Fakhre and Stephen Purvis, executives of the British

investment firm Coral Capital Group Ltd, who were found guilty on lesser

charges, were released on time served after they were arrested in 2011,

according to diplomatic sources quoted in foreign media reports.



Between 2011 and 2012, numerous Cuban citizens, a French businessman,

and two Chileans (tried in absentia) were sentenced in Havana on

corruption-related charges.



Source: "IPS – Getting Tough on Corruption in Cuba | Inter Press

Service" -

http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/07/getting-tough-on-corruption-in-cuba/