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G20, EU & Other Votaries of Corruption-Free Governance Face Heat

Details: Created on Saturday, 22 September 2018 06:09; Hits: 3945

(Edited Image Courtesy: UNODC)

Pressure from within and outside is mounting on global/regional bodies to act credibly against corruption. This follows the realization among anti-bribery stakeholders that global bodies excel in ritualism of issuing communiqué & declarations.

Several member countries of global entities take half-hearted action against hydra-headed corruption in their respective national jurisdictions. Many members such as India prefer passive play and dislike disclosures on their anti-corruption conduct.

The frustration over this sorry state of affairs is palpable from G20 to European Union to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

As put by Transparency International (TI) in a release issued last month, “Despite more than 60 anti-corruption commitments from G20 leaders in the last few years, there is little evidence of any real progress”.

In an earlier report issued during April 2018, TI exposed shocking laxity by G20 leaders in honouring their 2014 promise to act against anonymous companies.

Corruption Encounters New Sound & Fury From All Quarters

Details: Created on Thursday, 31 August 2017 07:35; Hits: 4428

(Edited Image Courtesy: Transparency International's UNCAC Guide)

The more the merrier. Yes, the idiom ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ is invalid in the global battle against corruption. One can infer this after scanning a slew of new initiatives against bribery being cooked at multilateral, regional, bilateral and at national levels.

The rationale for stakeholders upping the global ante against corruption is the fact that bribes are like mosquitoes that resists all controls. They react by acting as vector of new diseases in addition to malaria.

As put by the World Bank in its recent Brief on Corruption, “Businesses and individuals pay an estimated $1.5 trillion in bribes each year. This is about 2% of global GDP—and 10 times the value of overseas development assistance. The harm that corruption causes to development is, in fact, a multiple of the estimated volume, given the negative impact of corruption on the poor and on economic growth”.

It adds: “Data on international financial flows shows that money is moving from poor to wealthy countries in ways that fundamentally undermine development. Corruption is a global problem that requires global solutions”.

All stakeholders agree that new steps are needed to rein in corruption. No one is, however, sure about the precise efficacy of existing measures. Bribery can be checked substantially if all countries embrace global treaties and implement them sincerely.

Multilateral Institutions Target Tax-Corruption Knot

Details: Created on Friday, 28 July 2017 09:35; Hits: 4691

(Image Courtesy: Transparency International)

The ages-old link between tax and corruption is hogging limelight on global platforms. Multilateral institutions are offering new strategies to break the complex nexus between secrecy, fiscal management, corruption and money laundering.

G20 Summit, held recently in Germany, for instance, approved eight principles on countering corruption in Customs. This is in addition to four principles on combating corruption related to ‘Illegal Trade in Wildlife and Wildlife Products’. G20 leaders also approved 14 principles on the ‘Liability of Legal Persons for Corruption’.

According to Lisa Marriott, Associate Professor of Taxation, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, recent events such as the release of the ‘Panama Papers’ have increasingly focused the international community on the connection between tax systems and corruption.

Taking New Zealand as a case study, Marriott focuses on the tax treatment of facilitation payments made to overseas public officials and the tax treatment and disclosure requirements of foreign trusts.

She says: “Facilitation payments made to overseas public officials are deductible for tax purposes in New Zealand. Current practice is showing no sign of change, despite perceptions that this practice denotes a permissive attitude towards corruption and is no longer tolerated in most other comparable tax jurisdictions”.

In a paper released during April 2017, Marriott pointed out that the tax treatment and disclosure requirements of foreign trusts, together with the tax-corruption link in New Zealand, came under gaze after release of the Panama Papers. This event generated international media interest with the suggestion that New Zealand was acting as a tax haven.

India’s Anti-corruption Deficit Shines at World Stage

Details: Created on Thursday, 01 June 2017 14:51; Hits: 5170

(Edited Image Courtesy Transparency International's Guide on UNCAC)

“India is now rising on the world stage: PM Modi”, claims the headline to PM’s speech posted on narendramodi.in on 7th March 2017. Well, world-stage is multi-dimensional. And one dimension in which India has missed the stage is the one about which Mr. Modi is most vocal! Yes, you guessed it right- fighting corruption.

Modi Government has preferred to keep India as a super-laggard when it comes to implementing United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and making disclosures about its compliance. UNCAC is the only globally accepted framework for battle against corruption.

Missing from website of UNCAC’s secretariat, United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), are three essential components of India's anti-corruption profile. The three components are: Country’s self-assessment report/checklist (SAR), country review report (CRR) prepared by two UNODC-nominated countries and executive summary (ES) of each CRR.

India is one of the very few ratifying countries whose all three vital elements are missing from their respective anti-corruption profiles.

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