Paraguay’s Efforts to Combat Corruption: Key Areas for Improvement

The report from Semillas para la Democracia highlights several crucial areas where Paraguay needs to focus on to enhance its anti-corruption efforts. These key areas include:

1. Whistleblower Protection

• Establishing accessible and anonymous reporting mechanisms for whistleblowers is essential.
• Ensuring genuine protection against persecution or reprisal is vital for effective whistleblower protection.

2. Asset Recovery

• Paraguay’s asset recovery policy needs to focus on repairing social damage, rather than just using asset forfeiture in criminal cases.
• A culture change within the operators of justice is necessary to give investigations of assets equal importance as investigations focused on attributing criminal responsibilities.

3. Asset Disclosure

• Making public all sworn assets declarations of obligated objects and suppliers of the State from 2018 until now, in open data format, is recommended.
• Transparency in asset disclosure can help prevent corruption and promote accountability.

4. Prevention of Conflicts of Interest

• Approving the draft law on integrity and prevention of conflicts of interest in public functions, presented by SENAC, is suggested.
• The draft law should incorporate international standards, including those from UNCAC and IACC, and explicitly regulate “revolving doors” situations.

5. Protection of Assets against Money Laundering

• Paraguay needs to continue strengthening its authorities responsible for investigating money laundering and underlying crimes.
• Enhancing asset protection against money laundering is crucial for effective anti-corruption efforts in the region.

By addressing these areas, Paraguay can improve its anti-corruption efforts and effectively implement the UNCAC.