Mauritania - Anti-corruption study

This report is based on a number of background papers prepared jointly by a group of donors (EU, UNDP and the World Bank) and government counterparts. Its overarching aim is to provide analytic support to the NACS formulation, offer lessons from international experience on governance and anti-corruption (GAC) policy and generally support the Government and its development partners to better understand the phenomenon of corruption in Mauritania. The report is structured as follows: Chapter 2 focuses on the definition and measurement of corruption and the Mauritanian political economy. Chapter 3 focuses on corruption in public procurement. Chapter 4 concentrates on corruption in the courts of law. Chapter 5 deals with the extractive industries. Chapter 6 focuses on corruption from the perspective of the private sector, based on the results of the recent Investment Climate Assessment. The topics covered in this report were chosen given their criticality for the anti-corruption and governance agenda and in order to align the analysis and recommendations to the draft anti-corruption strategy, which focuses on: (i) the socio-cultural aspect of corruption; (ii) corruption in the public administration sphere (including procurement); (iii) corruption in the extractive industries; and (iv) the re- establishment of the rule of law. The single most important message concerns the need for maintaining momentum and pressing ahead with the finalization of ongoing anti-corruption strategic thinking and legislation, and the implementation of already approved GAC laws and measures. Looking forward, the emphasis should shift from passing laws and rules to concrete implementation of procedures on a broader agenda of greater political accountability.