Without Independent Anti-corruption Commission corruption
cannot be stopped
Sheikh Hafizur Rahman
Karzon
Corruption
has become an inextricable global problem creating difficulties for
development and good governance. Keeping administrative functions of the
governments and activities of political parties at the centre corruption
has taken strong hold in all the countries, both developed and
developing. Not only the third world countries are encountering this
problem, even the developed countries like Japan, France, Italy, U.S.A.
etc. are experiencing the vice of corruption. All the countries have
been taking various measures to combat corruption, some measures have
been proven very effective.
Bangladesh
has again been listed as the most corrupt country in the world, a rare
success (?) that has been achieved by this delta land for the
consecutive third time. It may furnish some sort of complacency (!) for
those people who contain agony for continuous poor performance of
Bangladesh in all the sectors. The publication of the ranking of the
most corrupt countries by the Transparency International brought
corruption and its multifarious implications on the table of discussion.
Here I try to focus anti-corruption measures of some foreign countries
and to make a critical analysis of the Anti-Corruption Commission Bill,
2003 (of Bangladesh) awaiting approval of Parliament and
President.
Anti-Corruption Measures of U.S.A., U.K., and Hong
Kong
The United States of America is fighting corruption for
long time. Nearly 15,000 people have been convicted under the federal
corruption statutes in the last two decades. In Illinois it was
Operation Gambit, in Tennessee it was Rocky Top, in South Carolina
Operation Lost Trust and in Chicago Operation Silver Shovel. Under these
operations corruption of hundreds of federal, state and local officials
were investigated. Huge amount of money is required to secure an elected
office, that's why politicians take money from different interest
groups. This is the main cause of political corruption. Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) and other investigators are now experiencing new
offences like extortion, mail fraud and racketeering.
In all the
civilised and democratic countries the public servants form a class by
themselves and require special protection of law and subject to rigorous
penalties if they deviate from the corresponding duties and obligations.
They are the main actors by whom law and administrative policies are
being executed, so usually they are accorded with many privileges and
immunities. Moreover, they are not directly responsible to Parliament.
The administrative officers develop corrupt practices by taking
advantage of these privileges and lack of proper accountability to any
other body of the state. Mal-administration, abuse of power and corrupt
practices of bureaucrats cause unbearable suffering to the citizens of
different strata. Neither court nor any tribunal can offer any remedy.
Many of them remain unredressed due to the malfunctioning or
nonfunctioning of the existing remedy giving mechanism.
Good
governance and rule of law administered by a responsible government can
ensure a corruption free administration. This type of government can
protect rights of the citizens effectively on the one hand, and ensure
overall development of the country by keeping corruption unpenetrated
into the administration on the other. The responsibility and
accountability of government, in the United Kingdom, for long has been
ensured by parliamentary questions, vote of censure, cut motion,
adjournment motion, no-confidence motion and by committee system. All
these modes of scrutinising the activities of administration had become
ineffective which paved the way for passing the Parliamentary
Commissioner Act, 1967. By this law a Parliamentary Commissioner with
independent status was appointed in the United Kingdom whose functions
would be to similar to those of the Ombudsman known to the Scandinavian
countries. Later on three offices of Health Service Commissioners for
England, Wales and Scotland were established in 1972 and 1973. Two
Commissioners for Local Administration, one for England and one for
Wales were appointed under the Local Government Act, 1974. The
Commissioners were appointed for minimizing mal-administration and
corrupt practices of governmental departments and
authorities.
In the
context of unprecedented corruption an Independent Commission Against
Corruption (ICAC) was formed in Hong Kong in 1973. Since its inception
the ICAC have been directing its 'war' against corruption very
efficiently. In course of time this organisation has been recognised as
the best anti-corruption unit in the world. It continues its functions
with the aid of three departments. With a purpose (1) to investigate the
allegations of corruption ICAC does its activities through the
Operations Department; (2) to prevent corruption through the efforts of
the Corruption Prevention Department; and (3) to educate through the
Community Relations Department.
The reason
of the high reputation achieved by the Hong Kong Independent Commission
Against Corruption lies in the fact that every allegation of corruption
which is pursuable, no matter how small, will be investigated and worked
out. Within the system of ICAC the confidentiality of sources from which
reports of corruption come have been protected. In fact ICAC has been
given draconian powers to achieve its goal. Following the model of Hong
Kong, ICAC of New South Wales of Australia and Directorate on Corruption
and Economic Crime of Botswana were set up. On the basis of its good
record "the ICAC (of Hong Kong) has been described as the Rolls Royce of
anti-corruption agencies."
Critical Analysis of the Anti-Corruption Bill,
2003
Corruption has penetrated its teeth into different
level of society. Corruption has grown to such an extent that it has
become an unofficial truth in the every day life of Bangladesh. From top
executive to the lowest staff are coming within the extensive
jurisdiction of corruption. Corrupt practice is frequent in business
world, political arena, media and even in judiciary. Corruption is a
major obstacle in the way of achieving true development of Bangladesh.
It constitutes the largest cause for which reputation of Bangladesh is
severely suffering in foreign countries. In this context present
government has introduced the Anti-Corruption Commission Bill, 2003.
In
accordance with the provisions of the Bill, Commissioners of the
Anti-Corruption Commission shall be appointed by the President from
among persons nominated by the Select Committee. Here Select Committee
has been consigned a heavy responsibility of finalising a list of six
persons from whom the President shall appoint three persons as
Commissioners. There shall be six members of the Select Committee among
whom four shall be government functionaries. They are Finance Minister,
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Comptroller and
Auditor-General of Bangladesh and Chairman of the Public Service
Commission [Sections 5, 6 and 7 of the Anti-Corruption Commission Bill].
Here people associated with government constitute clear majority. They
can easily execute the will of the government. This, in my view, is the
major weakness of the proposed Bill. Because the selection of the
Commissioners should be neutral and fair. Otherwise the people in the
good book of the government shall be appointed as Commissioners who will
let the government tension free and ensure that government will not be
disturbed. In all the countries corruption takes strong hold
encompassing the governmental functions and administrative activities.
So, the Commission as an institution and the Commissioners as
individuals should keep vigilant eye on the governmental activities. So,
the selection of the Commissioners should be independent of government.
Representative of government may be member of the Select Committee, but
they must not constitute the majority.
The
provisions providing for the tenure, qualification and disqualification
and procedure concerning the removal of the Commissioners are good.
Regarding qualification of the Commissioners only experience has been
emphasized. The matter of integrity, honesty, sincerity and high
reputation should be taken into account and included in the concerned
provision.
Section 18
of the proposed Anti-Corruption Commission Bill enumerates the functions
of the Commission. The list has been presented in a generalised form
without specifying the responsibility what functions shall be disposed
of by whom and by which department. The Bill should have provided that
the Commission would have three departmentsone for the investigation of
the offences of corruption, one for the prevention of corruption, one
for making the people conscious about the bad consequences of the
corruption.
Section 31
of the Bill provides that, previous sanction of the Commission shall be
required to file a suit of corruption. This provision should be more
elaborate in providing the rationale and guideline of granting sanction.
Previous approval of the Commission in filing a suit shall be required
to protect the honest public servants from harassment, at the same time
no public servant shall take advantage of the provision that should be
ensured.
In
accordance with the provision of section 33 the Bureau of
anti-Corruption shall be abolished, but its infrastructure, officers and
staffs will be attached with the Commission. In this context an
apprehension is mountingwill the legacy of the Bureau cloud the starting
of the Commission?
Concluding remarks
We, the people of
Bangladesh, are experiencing social instability and total anarchy.
Social transition, titanic inequality, crminalisation of politics and
economics, lack of good governanceall the factors give rise to this
total anarchy. Moreover, private profit economy and satellite culture
has developed a consumerist ethos, which causes high rate of criminality
and corruption. We require some strong institutions (like
Anti-Corruption Commission, Ombudsman etc.) to fight corruption.
Simultaneously lesson of honesty and ethics should be given to every
child from their home and other institutions of the society. Otherwise
the eradication of corruption will remain a distant dream as it remains
now.
Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon is a Lecturer, Department of
Law, Dhaka University.
