HC Deb 10 January 2001 vol 360 cc578-9W
14. Mr. McFall

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance her Department is providing to strengthen legal institutions and financial systems in developing countries in order to combat corruption. [143209]

Clare Short

We are working to strengthen investigative capacity through the establishment of independent anti-corruption agencies (for example in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia), as well as strengthening the criminal investigation capacity of police services (for example Jamaica, Malawi, Sierra Leone), and strengthening prosecutorial capacity through assistance to public prosecutor offices and measures to ensure judicial transparency, accountability and independence (for example India, Malawi, Uganda).

Support for strengthening financial systems to reduce corruption includes helping governments to improve public sector budgetary and financial management (for example Ghana, Malawi, Nepal) including in particular systems for revenue collection (for example Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa) and public procurement (for example Zambia), strengthening accounting and audit systems (for example Zambia), and enhancing public oversight through stronger public accounts and other parliamentary committees (planned in, for example, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya).