This Anti-Corruption Helpdesk brief was produced in response to a query from a U4 Partner Agency. The U4 Helpdesk is operated by Transparency International in collaboration with the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre based at the Chr. Michelsen Institute.
Query
Please provide an overview of corruption and anti-corruption in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, please provide an overview of money laundering and natural resource governance.
Summary
As mature democracies facing few structural impediments to strengthening their anti-corruption frameworks Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago each have substantial room for improvement in their attempts to counter corruption. Most of these countries have established legal and institutional anti-corruption frameworks of a global standard but perform below what can be expected in terms of actually getting to grips with corruption issues. Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago all face pressure from criminal organisations seeking to launder money or using the territories of these small states to facilitate illicit flows of drugs and people. These pressures come with heightened risks of state capture. Recent oil discoveries also increase the pressure on Guyana to undertake substantial improvements quickly.
Contents
Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago are all stable and consolidated democracies where citizens and media enjoy fundamental civil liberties.
Most of the countries have established global standard legal and institutional anti-corruption frameworks. Nonetheless, there is room for improvement across the board. All of the countries assessed in this paper could implement anti-corruption measures more efficiently.
The countries in question all face a number of pressures. These include crime-related risks such as money laundering and organised crime. Corruption acts as a facilitator of these crimes.
The citizen by investment programmes run by some countries in the English-speaking Caribbean comes with significant corruption risks.
In other cases, the discovery of new natural resources increases the stakes of improving the performance in attempts to counter corruption.
Main points
- Background
- Corruption and anti-corruption frameworks
- Regional risks and trends
- References
Authors
Mathias Bak
Reviewers
Matthew Jenkins, Transparency International and Sophie Lemaître, U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre
Date
21/01/2020
Tags
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