Fighting Corruption
The founding of Transparency International (TI) in Berlin in 1993 was one of the most significant private sector initiatives in fighting universal corruption. I had the privilege of meeting Dr Peter Eigen, the first Chairman TI (who remains a good friend) very soon afterwards in 1994 during the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Annual Summit in Davos. A lawyer by training, Dr Eigen managed World Bank programs in Africa and Latin America for 25 years. Disgusted at seeing scarce funds being misappropriated by public officials and politicians in third world countries, aided and abetted by senior executives of multinationals of the first world, he alongwith his colleagues decided to do something tangible about it, thus was born the TI initiative. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was first launched in 1995. This survey of many countries by independent institutions was meant not to measure corruption itself, but to quantify what was perceived to be corruption by ascertaining the views of the general public, interested observers and independent institutions.
TI’s “mission statement” challenges the inevitability of corruption, offering hope to its victims by building momentum for the anti-corruption movement, raising awareness by diminishing apathy and tolerance of corruption, as well as devising and implementing practical actions to address it. TI’s global network confronting corruption includes locally established national chapters and chapters-in-formation bringing together relevant players from government, civil society, business and media to promote transparency in elections, public administration, procurement and in business.
While not undertaking investigations of alleged corruption or exposing individual cases, TI works with organisations that do. It has the skills, tools, experience, expertise and broad participation to fight corruption on the ground, as well as through global and regional initiatives. Corruption’s devastating impact is obvious, e.g. (1) A father paying a bribe to get his child admission into a supposedly free school (2) A sick person buying useless counterfeit drugs, putting his health in grave danger (3) The bribe to the local inspector severely cutting a small shop owner’s modest earnings. At other times corruption’s impact is less visible, viz (1) prosperous multinational corporation securing contracts by buying unfair advantage in competitive markets through illegal kickbacks to corrupt government officials, at the expense of the honest companies eg. The Public Prosecutor in Germany has arrested 5 senior executives of Siemens and searched the offices of its CEO, Klaus Kleinfeld, the Munich-based firm acknowledging keeping a US$ 200 million slush fund for bribes in different countries in the world. In Italy and Singapore Siemens is barred by law from public tenders. On Dec 8, 2006 TI terminated Siemens membership, anybody in Pakistan know about this? Or rather, do they want to know? (2) Post-disaster donations that never reach the victims (3) Faulty buildings, built to lower safety standards because of bribes, collapsing under stress.
Corruption traps millions in poverty and misery, breeding social, economic and political unrest. Denied basic means of survival, poor people are forced to spend more of their income on bribes. A fair trial comes with a hefty tag when courts are corrupted. Undermining democracy and the rule of law, human rights are denied. Those with less power are particularly disadvantaged in corrupt systems, typically reinforcing gender discrimination. Corruption compounds political exclusion: if votes can be bought, there is little incentive to change the system that sustains poverty.
In her message launching CPI 2006, Huguette Labelle, present Chairperson TI said, “Corruption compromises lives of people at all economic and social levels in all countries. The poor are the hardest hit with some one trillion US dollars paid in bribes around the world every year. No country in this year’s CPI, covering 163 countries, is perceived as free of corruption. Fully 119 countries are grappling with serious corruption problems, in 71 corruption is perceived as rampant. Relatively high CPI scores in industrialized countries notwithstanding, major corruption scandals continue to emerge. The poor become poorer because part of their meager earnings must pay for basic services that should be free, or to avoid an otherwise long wait for these services. Ethical behaviour and accountability must include all public servants, commitment to doing the right thing must stretch from the clerk to the minister to the president. Demand for accountability must come from all sectors of society to lift the burden of poverty,” unquote. David Nussbaum, Chief Executive, TI adds “Corruption has many players: it has perpetrators and victims. It has accomplices – professionals who smooth the path between bribe payers and bribe takers, often brought together by third parties – the facilitators who enable the corrupt to steal the wealth of nations from their citizens. Without them, large scale corruption could not happen,” unquote.
The CPI 2006 ranks Pakistan and Bangladesh below Bhutan, Sri Lanka and India in South Asia. Bangladesh was ruled till recently by Begum Zia, wife of one of the most honest leaders in the history of the world, President Lt Gen Ziaur Rahman. Zia served the Pakistan Army with my late father, subsequently I served with him in the same unit. Very fond of neckties he reluctantly accepted my gift of a couple of them. His Military Secretary, Maj Gen Sadequr Rehman Chaudhry, delivered me two shirts the Bangladesh President had personally bought (as quid pro quo). A chain-smoker, Zia gave up smoking. When I commented on it, he said he still badly wanted to smoke but couldn’t afford it as President. As Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Bangladesh Army he had BD Takas 1000 per month as “Entertainment Allowance”, this he used to purchase cigarettes. As President he could not draw the allowance anymore (“entertainment” being free in the President’s House), he did not want to smoke the free cigarettes of the President’s House. When assassinated in 1981 Zia had only a second-hand Toyota Car of 1969 vintage, BD Takas 10000 or so in his bank account and one plot allotted to him. Twenty five years later one is shocked (and sad) to hear the reputation of his son, Tariq Rehman is rumored to have amassed a fortune, inside and outside Bangladesh. Unfortunately for the country Begum Hasina Wajed’s family members have a similar tarnished reputation, the other major politician Gen Ershad has been indicted for corruption. This is the same Bangladesh where Grameen Bank’s Mohammad Yunus deservedly received the Nobel Prize in Oslo only last Sunday for fighting poverty.
Corruption in the public sector is implied when politicians and/or civil servants improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves or those close to them by the misuse (or abuse) of “pubic power or property” entrusted to them. Society at large suffers, debilitating the judicial and political systems that should be working for the public good by weakening the rule of law and silencing the voice of the people. A corrupt judiciary cripples a society’s ability to curb corruption. While the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will be Musharraf’s lasting legacy, it must preserve and safeguard its neutrality and credibility as an independent and apolitical accountability mechanism, this requires a “non-selective” even-handed approach. NAB must inevitably establish full transparency (and accountability thereof) within its own ranks. How about carrying out accountability of all of NAB’s upper hierarchy for the past seven years?
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