Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER FIVE: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________the risk of rumour mongering and agree to publish articles provided by peoplewhose sole interest is to defend themselves in cases of accusation of fraud orcorruption. Despite the intervention of the Media Deontology and EthicsObservatory (ODEM), journalists easily fall prey to politicians orbusinesspeople who want to defend their own interests and may, therefore,lose their independence and credibility. Training programmes in economic andinvestigative journalism are necessary and should be supported by the publicauthorities and the journalists‟ association.680. Money laundering and smuggling. Money laundering is widely carried outin Benin. This is often seen in money going straight to finance investments inthe real estate sector 63 , without passing through the banks. Even thoughtraining programmes are organised to equip state employees with the means oftackling this scourge, some of the CRM respondents indicated that decisionsare taken neither by the most competent nor the best trained in the service.681. Although a WAEMU community directive to combat money laundering wasadopted in September 2002, the directive contains a clause that requires allmember states to incorporate the directive into their national laws. Althoughthe bill in this regard has provided, inter alia, for the establishment of aFinancial Information Processing Unit (CENTIF), nothing has been done asthe members of this unit are yet to be appointed.682. GIABA has a correspondent point in Benin that transmits dockets to theeconomic crimes squad until such time as the anti-money laundering unitbecomes fully operational. During discussions with stakeholders, especially inPorto-Novo, the CRM was informed of cases of drug trafficking along theborder with Nigeria. This situation is all the more disturbing since it was notmentioned in the CSAR.683. Counterfeiting and respect of intellectual and industrial property rights.With regard to respect for intellectual and industrial property rights, Benin is amember of the African Intellectual Property Organization. The CRM notedthat the BBDRA is still incapable of dealing with counterfeiting. It suffersfrom a lack of resources and a poor image, since it is considered to be anauxiliary of the tax administration rather than an organisation in defence ofcreators‟ rights and innovation. The difficulty in enforcing intellectualproperty rights hampers the transfer of technology to the local private sectorwithin the framework of DFI.iii.Recommendations of the APR Panel684. On this basis, the APR Panel wishes to recommend the following:Strengthening of training programmes for judges in commercial andmanagement law, and encouraging enterprises to use the intermediationservices of the OPM for the amicable settlement of their disputes(government).63 The cash involved may come from corrupt practices.231