Legislation: Corruption has been criminalised in Mali since 1982 by the Anti-Corruption Law (in French) and the Law Against Crimes of Illicit Enrichment (in French), while amendments to the Penal Code in 2001 provided for further criminalisation of corruption. Corruption in the form of attempted corruption, active and passive bribery, abuse of office, extortion, influence-peddling, financial fraud, and money laundering is criminalised. Offenders face penalties of 5-10 years of forced labour, imprisonment, confiscation of assets and a fine of double the illegal assets promised and received, on the condition that a minimum fine of XOF 100,000 is met. The constitution requires the Prime Minister and other cabinet members to annually submit a financial statement and written declaration of their earnings to the Supreme Court. These documents, however, are not made public. Mali's current legislative framework does not address business-to-business corruption. Mali has signed and ratified the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and the United Nation Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). For further information on legislation in Mali, see the Lexadin World Law Guide.

Government Strategies: Apart from communicating the elimination of corruption as a high priority, the Touré administration has introduced several mechanisms targeting corruption, such as anti-corruption legislation and agencies. With support from the donor community, much work has been done to strengthen macroeconomic and fiscal management and improve the efficiency, accountability and transparency of public finance management systems. For instance, a mid-term expenditure framework has been introduced and extended to several ministries. Budget execution has improved through the decentralisation of finance responsibilities from the Ministry of Finance to other relevant ministries, which has contributed to an increase in their financial management accountability. According to the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA), much progress has been made in strengthening budget formulation and execution in Mali in the last few years, and the World Bank Mali Country Assistance Evaluation 2007 has evaluated Mali's present public expenditure management (PEM) system as impressive by Sub-Saharan standards.

Anti-Corruption Agency: With assistance from the World Bank, an ad hoc anti-corruption commission was established in 1999 with the responsibility to study reports for the control of the administration. A November 2000 presidential decree saw this commission succeeded by the Support Unit to the Control Structures of the Administration (CASCA - the website is in French). The CASCA oversees a number of smaller anti-corruption units within various government ministries and reports directly to the presidency. It has been designed to assist ministerial and departmental administrative control structures by studying and exploiting their control and inspection reports sent to the President to produce its own, independent analyses. The CASCA is also mandated to follow and evaluate the implementation of presidential recommendations based on these reports. The findings of the CASCA reports are published in Information Bulletins that are made public. The reports have revealed irregularities in legislative and regulative orders as well as in the disposal of public financial resources. Only following a specific presidential directive to forward reports and documentation to competent judicial authorities is the CASCA enabled do so. Apart from the above, there is no available information on its mandate or precise area of work. According to U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre 2008, by 2007, 669 control and inspection reports had been analysed by the CASCA and submitted to the President. Of these reports, 123 were transferred to the judiciary.

Auditor General: The Office of the Auditor General (OAG, in French) was established in 2003 to evaluate the performance and impact of the public financial administration, especially with regards to development programmes and projects. After the appointment, about a hundred support personnel were hired, among them, experienced auditors, some of them international. The agency is independent from the government structures that it monitors and has published revealing reports exposing state financial losses due to widespread customs fraud and tax evasion. The Auditor General's review of its performance since its creation in 2003, has found a total of FCFA 382 billion in revenue shortfalls, including lost revenue in the Customs Office, the Treasury, the Social Security Agency but most notably in the taxation services which accounted for 30% of the audits but 75% of the total missing revenue. The Bertelsmann Foundation 2010 maintains that the Auditor General regularly complains about the lack of prosecution, despite several cases with detailed evidence showing massive financial losses for the government. Reportedly, the Office of the Auditor General is now itself under surveillance from the authorities because it provided evidence of corruption among high-level government officials who had considered themselves as being off-limits to the office's investigations. The latest annual report can be accessed here (in French).

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI): Mali is listed as a candidate country to the EITI, a global initiative aimed at achieving transparency in the payments by companies operating within extractive industries to governments and government agencies. The Malian government has committed itself to join the initiative because of the prospects of massive investment in its oil and gas reserves by foreign oil exploration companies. On 9 September 2010, Mali submitted a final validation report to the EITI Board, a mechanism used by the EITI board to determine a country's candidate or complaint status, as reported by the EITI.

E-Governance: E-governance is relatively well-developed in Mali. A number of ministries and governmental institutions have their own websites, including the Tax Department and Customs Department under the Ministry of Finance. Moreover, companies wishing to invest in Mali can find useful information on the website of the Ministry for the Promotion of Investments and Small and Medium-Sized Companies (in French) and on E-Regulations Mali (in French). However, while there appears to be an adequate supply of online information related to business regulations and investments, access to documents and services that reduce the number of face-to-face encounters between companies and public officials are lacking.

Public Procurement: Public procurements valued over XOF 10 million are regulated by Decree No. 95-401/P-RM (in French) of November 1995. To fight corruption in procurement, the government requires all procurement contracts to be inspected by the General Department of Public Markets, which determines whether the procedure meets requirements of fairness, price competitiveness and quality standards. According to law, Malian companies and cooperative societies are awarded advantages in the procurement process over foreign companies under specific conditions. Procurement can take place by open or restricted adjudication, by open or restricted tenders or by limited direct single-source agreements. Companies found guilty of violations of procurement regulations can be barred from participating in future bids. The US Department of State 2010 reports that in some cases the local media have questioned the transparency of the bidding and contracts award process.

Whistle-Blowing: There are no reports on whistle-blowing in Mali or whether any mechanisms or institutions have been set up to administer complaints of corruption. Likewise, there is no information on whether whistleblowers reporting cases of corruption are protected by law or in practice from threats and acts of retaliation.

General Comments on the Public Anti-Corruption Initiatives: The institutional setup to combat corruption in Mali, including laws and agencies, is evidence of a firm political commitment. A myriad of administrative control structures have been established to fight corruption. However, the majority of these structures are ineffective and do not cooperate with each other. An exception to this is the country's Auditor General, which has published revealing reports about corruption. An advisory commission has been set up to assist the President in studying and deciding how to follow up on these reports. The work of the commission has enhanced the credibility of the state in the eyes of the public. However, much remains to be done in Mali's fight against widespread corruption and systematic embezzlement.