After an inordinate delay Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has been appointed the NAB chairman. A credible bureaucrat with an impeccable record, he has the right CV. The unfortunate controversy about his appointment could have been avoided by bringing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the third largest party in the National Assembly, into the consultations.

The delay underscores the fact that accountability, on top of the agenda in public aspirations, is not really a priority for our politicians -- and for good reason. Why should they blow the whistle on themselves? No wonder politicians elected to parliament across the world have slashed the budgets of their accountability entities.

Our resolve to root out corruption at the highest reaches of government and society has been weak. Like inflation, corruption has force-multiplied to become an inescapable part of our daily lives. Just talking and/or planning to take deterrent action does not solve the problem, the systems must evolve so that, except for the extreme necessities of national security, everything is open for detailed public scrutiny. The pursuit of accountability is a zero-sum game; unfortunately political nuances and self-interest compromise its implementation. In many third world countries the guilty use ‘democracy’ as a camouflage for their crimes.

The moral obligation to the downtrodden makes it incumbent for those in power to face up to their moral and ethical responsibilities. What use is a constitution that does not prevent the unscrupulous from looting the till? It is a meaningless piece of paper to a man whose children remain hungry, sick and uneducated. Without the courage to do their fundamental duty as per the authority vested in them, they are as much culpable as those involved in the corruption they try to absolve themselves of.

Most leaders of the so-called free world during the Cold War were civilian and military dictators/absolute monarchs who not only looted their countries blind but revelled in doing that. Very much frowned upon in the west, money laundering, evasion of taxes, flight of capital, etc were conveniently ignored in the 1950s and 1960s to support tyrants in the name of ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ in the fight against communism. The lack of accountability in a totalitarian rule contributed to creating an ideal breeding ground for corruption.

The apathy of the west in the face of well-known cases is a sad reflection on the process of democracy. The US$60 million supposedly in Zardari’s name in Swiss banks will probably never be recovered, being legally time-barred by judicial filibustering. Such corrupt people could not have survived politically in the west, unfortunately it makes no difference to their acceptability and lifestyle. The cocktail circuit in expensive apartments in a square mile around Hyde Park in London is full of known white-collar thieves in the form of former dictators, bank defaulters, tax evaders, money-launderers, etc.

A free media and wide-ranging literacy can contribute to check and balance in governance but what happens if the media itself has been corrupted? With the authority of the state compromised, the capacity for malfeasance is force-multiplied many times over. Why do western democracies allow corrupt leaders to bankrupt their fledgling nations (and move their ill-gotten gains to their countries) when they themselves do not tolerate similar behaviour in their own nations?

Being personally involved in the cutting edge of the struggle against terrorism for over two decades, one’s over-riding concern is that corruption morphs easily into ‘organised crime’, described by the United Nations as being “large-scale and complex criminal activity carried on by groups of persons, however loosely or tightly organised, for the enrichment of those participating and at the expense of the community and its members through ruthless disregard of any law, including offences against the person, and frequently in connection with political corruption”. Organised crime and terrorism have developed a symbiotic relationship, the nexus resulting from ineffective governance.

Once embarked on his (or her) ghastly mission, a suicide bomber will cause collateral damage, both human and material, the quantum depending upon whether s/he reaches the designated objective or detonates his/her lethal cargo carried in a public place short of the objective. There is very little defence against such acts and the only way is to eliminate the nexus between terrorism, corruption and organised crime. Each being fought individually, corruption must be first targeted to starve organised crime and terrorism of money.

Terrorist organisations can include, or are supported by, common criminals with special skills or access to networks or criminal opportunities. Where does one get the money laundered from, the ability to purchase explosives, have valid identification documents, etc and the logistics for travel and accommodation? With increased criminal activity replacing ideology, profit and greed are the main motivating drivers for operations of some terrorist groups.

Globalisation has made it all the more necessary to develop a cohesive modus operandi of cooperating in real-time on a fast-track and coordinated basis using all the means and resources available directed to rooting out the menace of corruption. The World Economic Forum set up the ‘Partnering Against Corruption Initiative’ (Paci) in 2004 as a global, multi-industry, multi-stakeholder anti-corruption initiative. Paci was meant to raise business standards and contribute to a competitive, transparent, accountable and ethical business society.

To quote the Paci website, “Corruption is widely recognised as a major obstacle to the stability, growth and competitiveness of economies. Business has a unique opportunity to join forces with governments and other stakeholders to find lasting solutions to problems of corruption and to create a level playing field for today’s globalised markets. Taking a leadership role is not only a matter of ensuring organisational compliance. It is a strategic imperative for every CEO.”

To quote from an anti-corruption workshop conducted by Paci in India, “lack of enforcement of the legal and regulating framework for addressing corruption is often cited as a major impediment to promoting real change, especially in the business environment. Moreover, lack of coordination and conflicting mandates between the different actors – business, government, civil society – reduce the effectiveness of anti-corruption and transparency measures.”

Helping foster a high-level dialogue between business and governments, Paci asks business leaders to sign a set of principles, committing: (1) to a zero tolerance policy towards bribery and corruption and (2) agreeing to establish an internal anti-corruption programme.

The global anti-corruption agenda has been helped by Paci to successfully set a strategic policy level, to drive change in key markets through targeted initiatives and partnerships. There is heightened public, media and business interest surrounding corruption-related issues. The Paci principles are the same that should be the touchstone for public sector accountability entities like NAB, a globally recognised benchmark to track and encourage compliance efforts by multinational companies that face bribery and extortion in many countries.

For third-world entities attempting to root out corruption, association with private-sector entities like Paci, being multinational, multi-dimensional and multi-stakeholder, would be multi-beneficial.

(This is the first of two articles based on a recent WEF Conference in Geneva).

To be continued

The writer is a defence and political analyst.
Email: ikram.sehgal@wpplsms.com

http://e.thenews.com.pk/10-24-2013/page6.asp

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

http://e.thenews.com.pk/10-25-2013/page6.asp