In a continued effort to improve the business climate in Morocco and strengthen the fight against corruption, a national integrity portal will soon be a reality.
This digital platform aims to bring together all the data on the national strategy in the fight against corruption and strengthen transparency. The general public, businesses, investors and international organizations will therefore be provided with a digitalized and centralized access to information in this area.
According to the National Authority for Integrity and the Prevention and Fight against Corruption (INPPLC), the portal will include all relevant information such as legal texts, reports and studies, conventions and statistics.
Users will have an outlet to express their expectations and suggestions on the issue of integrity and corruption through an e-participatory space. Users will also have the opportunity to submit their complaints on the issue or benefit from a referral to other platforms for handling complaints. The portal will also identify the actions to be taken by the various actors working on the National Anti-corruption Strategy, recover them and publish them.
This project is part of the efforts undertaken by the Kingdom in the fight against corruption and also within the framework of its international commitments, in particular the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the Arab Convention against Corruption and the African Union Convention on the prevention and fight against corruption. All of these efforts were supported by the adoption in 2015 of a national anti-corruption strategy, Axis 3 of the strategy in particular related to transparency and access to information.
Earlier this year, law n ° 46-19 relating to the National Authority for Probity, Prevention and the Fight against Corruption was published in the Official Bulletin, thus representing a milestone in the process of empowering the Authority. The new law generally adopts a broader definition of corruption.
The new law also broadens the prerogatives of the Authority and its scope of intervention, in particular in the area of preventive policy by giving it new skills related to initiative, coordination and supervision, while ensuring the follow-up of the implementation of anti-corruption policies, collect and disseminate information in this area, contribute to the moralization of public life and consolidate the principles of good governance.
This text also empowers the Authority to investigate, and pursue corruption cases. The Authority will be empowered to receive denunciations and complaints, to initiate investigations, to access administrative and professional premises (dawn raids), to ascertain offenses with the agents of the judicial police, and to become a civil party in related legal proceedings.
-Disciplinary and penal sanctions may be imposed on those who hinder the work of the Authority and its investigations.