Criminals and terrorists evade detection, arrest and punishment by easily operating across international borders, taking full advantage of the reluctance of law enforcement authorities to engage in complicated and expensive transnational investigations and prosecutions. Money is used to buy influence and power, imagine the potency of such illegals having, more often than not, the official authority of the State behind their operations?
The “Ephedrine” case in Pakistan where alongwith the former PM’s son, federal Ministers, sitting members of the National Assembly, etc were all illegally involved is a case in point. Those who have the courage to point out wrongdoing to officialdom are targeted with dire threats, posted to out of way places, placed on suspension, superceded for promotion, etc. Consider the irony of the accuser being persecuted instead of the accused being prosecuted? Something like this happened to the senior officials of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) in Pakistan in the Gilani case.
Globalization has made it increasingly necessary for civilised society to combat the evil nexus organizing all available resources, using the ingenuity and resources of the private sector to complement the limitations of the public sector. Elected governments having criminal trappings is a sure recipe for proliferation of terrorism under “democratic” cover. When the rule of law becomes the domain of those who live outside the rule of law, accountability becomes a figment of imagination. Consider former PM Gilani’s crocodile tears in the face of irrefutable evidence. When criminals function in the name of justice, justice becomes a crime.
The theme for the PACI’s “Community Meeting” on 14-15 Oct in Geneva was “the importance of providing leadership against corruption and why managing corruption-related risks is increasingly an imperative for business leaders.” The first session noted the tremendous progress made in the last 10 years, once multi-national companies (MNCs) were averse to discussing such issues in public, now each took great pains to public highlight the achievement of their “Legal and Compliance” Divisions to ensure that no corporate individual or client could circumvent the “code of ethics” designed to check corruption. According to PACI, “The revised strategy builds on the fundamental value proposition of providing a platform for business leaders to share, learn and develop leading-edge thinking and best practices in the fight against corruption, and adds new components that stress collective action and high-level policy impact.”
Among the 100 or so participants from all over the world in the PACI Meeting were academics, business leaders, govt officials, bankers, etc. The delegates included Paul Low Seng-Kuan, Malaysia’s Minister for Integrity, Adam Blackwell, Secretary Multi-Dimensional Security of the OAS, Barbara Martin, Director General Canadian Foreign Ministry, Nicola Bonucci, Director OECD etc. Almost all major financial institutions and concerned entities (like Transparency International (TI)) were represented. To underscore the importance of the PACI Meeting, WEF’s MD Robert Greenhill chaired the Opening Session. The entire two days were packed with interest, Elaine Dezenski, Senior Director WEF and PACI’s Head and Joel Fernandes, Senior Community Manager PACI, keeping the participants energized and alive over whole two days with targetted information and innovative inter-active discussions.
The discussions centered on the strategic means for combating corruption, the highlight being “Designing Corruption out of the System” by an effective “Anti-Corruption Transformation Map” coalescing all the factors needed in such an engagement. The considered opinion was that “Collective Action” by both business and public sectors with the factors of “Business Case and Strategic Business Risk”, “Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR)” and “Financial Disclosures” in one cluster must drive “Govt and Public Policy” with its factors of “Legal and Regulating Framework”, “Public Education and Awareness and “Changing Societal Norms, Priorities and Values” in another cluster being the drivers of change. Associated with the former are “Implementation and Resource Capabilities”, “Shifting Geo-political Risk”, “Capital and Trade Plans” and “Advances in Technology”, while” Global Supply Chains”, “Income Inequality” and “Capital on Trade Flows” contributes to the latter cluster. “Anti-Corruption Transformation Map” is an important ingredient to forge a great action plan combatting the menace of corruption, and by extension, organized crime and terrorism. Almost all MNCs have strong institutionalized and merit-based systems, during doing away with discretionary powers as the basic ingredients to confronting corruption.
Measures needed to beat corruption include reducing of human contact between the public and private sector, to improve it’s documentation (making it increasingly e-documentation), improving the quality of oversight and having an honest, dedicated and correct leadership. Corruption can only be eradicated if the rules are applicable equally to everyone, regardless of their connections. A leader’s good intentions and/or his will is rarely translated into deeds, selective accountability compromises the entire process. NAB functioned effectively in Pakistan for a few years, Musharraf’s destroyed his finest initiative by restraining NAB for his own self-survival from going after those in the upper social circuit who are not only corrupt but foment corruption (dinner, drinks, and even women on the house as a regular feature). Some very corrupt Chairman NAB exploited this green light to the hilt for lining their own pockets. These scoundrels gave new meaning to the very term they prosecuted people for, “living beyond one’s means”. A great number of NAB officials have done tremendous work, the history of the institution they served honestly and diligently has been tainted by a few scoundrels. Compare the assets of some of NAB’s top officials when they took service with NAB, and presently. NAB must conduct self-accountability of all its former Chairmen and their key executives on a fast-track basis, that is the only way to get back the eroded credibility of a very fine institution.
Most problems can be traced to the willingness of those under oath to tell lies with impunity, to forge documents, to erase, alter, deface, mutilate, etc evidence as may be required. For personal gain, whether monetary or otherwise, false representation of facts and distortions, “outright lies” is the order of the day. The Oxford Dictionary defines perjury as “an act of willfully telling an untruth when on oath”, and goes on to use the words, “lying, mendacity, mendaciousness, falsification, deception, untruthfulness, dishonesty, duplicity”. In simple terms, a perjurer is a criminal. And what about lawyers who are sworn to uphold the law? And accounting firms whose task it is to present unadulterated accounts? It should be made incumbent upon the lawyers to carefully satisfy themselves that they do not present false evidence to try and exonerate their clients, accounting firms which audit accounts can easily find out if any money has been diverted for bribes, etc. Both legal counsel and accounting firms should be liable to be blacklisted alongwith those they help to escape accountability.
Regional and local engagement are critical to making an impact, PACI is assiduously connecting its members with emerging markets where corruption drives away investment. Instead of trying to re-invent the wheel, with opportunity to emulate good practices and a vast potential for free of cost networking, public sector accountability institutions like NAB must look for a meaningful association with PACI.
(Concluding a two part series based on a recent WEF’s “Partnering Against Corruption Initiative” (PACI) Community Meeting in Geneva on 14-15 Oct 2013).
Courtesy: The News
