Catalog

2007 Accomplishments

Enhancing OAGI Capacity

OAGI continues to work to develop the skills of its staff, recruit the most qualified people for vacancies, and improve the division's capacity to effectively respond to allegations of fraud and corruption. Furthermore, given OAGI's increasing workload and complexity of many of the matters that it considers, it is essential that OAGI staff keep abreast of the latest developments in the international investigations field.

Training undertaken by OAGI staff during the year was as follows:

• One staff member undertook an interviewing training workshop;
• Another staff member attended a seminar to assess intelligence gathering and analysis systems; and
• In a first for OAGI, all professional and national staff engaged in the assessment and investigation of complaints attended a 2-day self-assessment and team-building workshop.

In early 2008, OAGI will be drawing on its own internal resources to conduct an Investigative Interviewing workshop for staff. The curriculum for this workshop will include interviewing principles, cognitive interviewing, and conversation management.

This will be followed later in the year by a similar internal workshop on contemporary investigations methodology and practice.

Operationally, in the latter half of 2007, OAGI adopted the general practice of electronically recording its interviews with complainants, witnesses, suspects, and other persons of interest. The electronic recording of interviews has become standard practice in many jurisdictions. This tool helps to guard the rights of suspects and witnesses. It can also help protect the interviewer against unfounded allegations of impropriety. is especially the case where the investigator is working alone and there are no independent witnesses to the interview-a situation routinely encountered by OAGI staff.

A recorded interview provides the best evidence of what was said during that interview. It is also consistent with the general policy framework of the Integrity Principles and Guidelines and the high ethical standards ADB demands of its staff. It provides a permanent, accurate, and reviewable record of the interview.

During 2007, OAGI recruited several new staff from a range of criminal and corruption investigations backgrounds, including investigations management and education, as well as staff with excellent analytical, development, and administrative skills. For 2008, this process will continue with the targeted recruitment of highly qualified investigators from DMCs or with specific language or other required technical skills.

While the reactive assessment and investigation of complaints and allegations will always remain central to the work of OAGI, in contemporary practice there is growing move toward complementing this traditional approach with intelligence-driven investigations. Such investigations will be designed to target specific problem areas to foster compliance with the three objectives of the anticorruption policy and to proactively detect fraudulent and corrupt practice in ADB-financed activity.

Research on this project has already commenced. During 2008, OAGI will be developing strategies to develop its intelligence gathering and analysis capacity. In the 10 years that OAGI with its predecessor, the Anticorruption Unit, has been in operation, significant data on fraud and corruption has been gathered, which will provide a sound basis on which to build a fraud and corruption intelligence system.

From an investigations management perspective, and as a part of its ongoing commitment to best practice, OAGI has revisited its established complaints assessment process. With the appointment of a dedicated staff member to assess complaints, OAGI has now centralized these procedures to make them more effective and responsive. OAGI is currently critically reviewing its case management procedures, with a view to updating its case management information system. Improved case management will be a key priority for 2008.