Azerbaijan and Tajikistan signed an Organization of Islamic Cooperation anti-corruption convention in Baku, adding two signatories to a pact that still needs 12 more qualifying instruments to take effect.
Article 20 says the agreement will become effective on the 30th day after the 19th instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession is deposited. OIC Secretary-General Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said seven states had ratified the convention as of Oct. 28, according to reports by APA and AZERTAC. Those reported ratifications leave 12 qualifying instruments to meet the threshold.
The treaty establishes procedures for member states to exchange information and evidence, seek mutual legal assistance, coordinate investigations and provide technical support. It covers offenses including bribery, embezzlement, illicit enrichment, and the laundering or concealment of corruption proceeds. Articles 8-10 say authorities should execute each request within 30 working days after receiving it, subject to the convention and the parties' legal systems.
The convention also points parties toward an existing global anti-corruption law enforcement network associated with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and encourages them to consider joining it. Its preamble identifies legal, technical and geographic barriers to information sharing, as well as shortages of personnel, funding and technical capacity in some states.
More than 250 people from 46 member and observer countries and eight international organizations attended the Oct. 27-28 meeting, Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office said. The office said more than 40 senior officials took part, including ministers and heads of independent anti-corruption agencies.
Euronews quoted Abd Halim Bin Aman, chief commissioner of Malaysia's Anti-Corruption Commission, as saying, “Bureaucracy is always being an obstacle to any investigation.”
OIC foreign ministers adopted the convention in March 2023, after its text was approved at a ministerial meeting in Jeddah in December 2022. The OIC's 2025 resolution welcomed Iraq's offer to host the fourth ministerial meeting in 2028.
