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 people having, more often than not, the official authority of the state behind their operations.
The ‘Ephedrine’ case in Pakistan – in which along with the former PM’s son, federal ministers, sitting members of the National Assembly, etc – were involved is a case in point. Those who have the courage to point out wrongdoing to officialdom are targeted with dire threats, posted to far-off places, suspended, superseded etc. Consider the irony of the accuser being persecuted instead of the accused? Something like that happened to the senior officials of the Anti-Narcotics Force in the Gilani case.
Globalisation has made it increasingly necessary for civilised society to combat the evil nexus organising 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 rule of law becomes the domain of those who live outside 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 Paci’s ‘Community Meeting’ on October 14-15 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. Multinational companies were once averse to discussing such issues in public, now each took great pains to publically 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 at the Paci meeting were academics, business leaders, government officials, bankers, etc. The delegates included Paul Low Seng-Kuan, Malaysia’s minister for integrity, Adam Blackwell, secretary Multidimensional 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) 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 kept the participants energised and alive over the two days with targeted information and innovative inter-active discussions.
The discussions centred 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 the business and public sectors with the factors of ‘business case and strategic business risk’, ‘corporate social responsibilities’ and ‘financial disclosures’ in one cluster must drive ‘government 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. The anti-corruption transformation map is an important ingredient to forge a great action plan to combat the menace of corruption, and by extension, organised crime and terrorism. Almost all MNCs have strong institutionalised and merit-based systems.
Measures needed to beat corruption include reducing contact between the public and private sector, to improve its documentation (making it increasingly e-based), improving the quality of oversight and having an honest and dedicated leadership. Corruption can only be eradicated if the rules are applicable equally to everyone, regardless of their connections. Selective accountability compromises the entire process.
NAB functioned effectively in Pakistan for a few years. Musharraf destroyed his finest initiative by restraining NAB for his own survival from going after those in the upper social circuit who were not only corrupt but also encouraged corruption.
Some very corrupt chairmen of NAB exploited this green light to the hilt for lining their pockets. These men 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, but the history of the institution they served honestly and diligently has been tainted by a few corrupt elements. Compare the assets of some of NAB’s top officials when they took service with NAB, and what they own now. NAB must conduct 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, forge documents, and 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 wilfully 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. 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 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 along with those they help escape accountability.
Regional and local engagement is critical to making an impact. Paci is assiduously connecting its members with emerging markets where corruption drives away investment. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, public sector accountability institutions like NAB must look for a meaningful association with Paci. (This is the second part of a two-part series based on a recent WEF conference in Geneva). Concluded
The writer is a defence and political analyst. Email: ikram.sehgal @wpplsms.com
Ikram Sehgal, "Curse of corruption," The News. 2013-10-25.Keywords: Social sciences , Social issues , Social needs , Civil society , Society-Pakistan , Corruption , Criminals , Terrorists , Democracy , Terrorism , Adam Blackwell , Robert Greenhill , Gen Musharraf , Pakistan , Malaysia , NAB