Sudan participated among 111 countries in the conference of states parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption between 3 and 5 September 2018 in Vienna.

Sudan is one of the states Parties to the Convention and is keen to participate annually in this conference with a high government delegation. In its participation last year, 2017, Sudan stressed that the fight against corruption was a strategic goal that could not be deviated from and expressed the adoption of a national strategy to promote integrity, transparency and accountability aimed at the ideal implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption and other relevant conventions as a framework for developing the strategy and linking it to the enforcement of national legislation.

In his address to the Seventh Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) held in Vienna, 2017, the Attorney General Maulana Omer Ahmed said that strengthening the legal framework against corruption was a priority which would be carried out by identifying shortcomings that must be addressed and benefiting from best practices regarding combating corruption through reforms and legislative amendments. He said corruption leads to problems and risks that threaten the stability and security of societies, jeopardize sustainable development and rule of law, undermine democratic institutions and destroy the values ​​of justice.

In his speech, the Attorney General stressed Sudan sincere desire to cooperate with the international community to combat corruption in all its forms and to overcome the challenges and any new difficulties to reach the desired end. He pointed out that Sudan has signed many bilateral agreements to strengthen international cooperation in criminal matters related to crimes of corruption.

However, despite the above speech, the report of Transparency International 2016 states that Sudan figured high on the list of corrupt countries. It ranked 175 and scored 16 points and is considered a high percentage of corruption.

In April 2018, Sudan announced the establishment of a court to deal with corruption and looting of public money to curb the negative effects of corruption networks targeting many economic sectors in the country.

At the highest levels, the government acknowledged the growing corruption phenomenon and pointed to the existence of interconnected corruption networks aimed at sabotaging the national economy by stealing people’s money.

For his part, the head of the Sudanese Transparency Organization, Mr. Al Tayeb Mukhtar, told “Al Arabi Al Jazeeda” that the individual and collective arrests will never lead to a result in the fight against corruption, calling for the building of an integrated legislative and institutional system capable of drying up the sources of corruption and reducing it significantly, or else the corrupt elements will continue to take advantage of the current flaws and continue corruption with impunity, “he said.

Source: UNODC