Short Session Report: Plenary

Session Title: Plenary V: Grand Corruption: How to Stop the Corrupt Stealing from You and Me

Date & Time: Friday, September 4 • 16:30 - 18:00

Report prepared by: Maira Martini, Knowledge and Policy Coordinator

Experts:

Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim, Chairman, Anti-Corruption Advisory Board of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission

Jean-Louis Nadal, President, French High Authority for transparency in public life

Simon Peh, Commissioner, ICAC, Hong Kong

Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International

Cobus De Swardt, Managing Director, Transparency International

Moderated by: Frank Vogl, Journalist and Author, Transparency

Main issues raised in kick off remarks by moderator. What’s the focus of the session?

This closing plenary session took stock of the outcomes from the previous plenary sessions and outline what needs to change in order to address the greatest global challenge of all: Impunity for corruption.
Kumi said in a previous plenary that impunity is the absolute abuse of power. The Malaysian Minister pledged to protect the anti-corruption commission. According to him, the anti-corruption commission is the means to end impunity.
Tunku mentioned that he looks at impunity as an institutional rather than an individual issue. It flourishes under weak leadership and corruption will creep into the system with predictable consequences. A comprehensive governance programme to end corruption and impunity requires resources that few countries can afford. Countries that seriously want to confront corruption must find the means to review their systems and laws in order to enable corruption to be tackled without fear or favour. In his opinion, “even scarcer than resources is political will”. The fight against corruption is not only about the government fighting it, but all of us. In Malaysia, the government has completed the first phase of the transformation of the civil service as an effort to improve service delivery, but more still needs to be done. He believes it is necessary to promote high standards of public behaviour which can help to increase transparency and accountability. Without transparency there cannot be accountability. He also believes that the private sector has a unique input to make. An effective anti-corruption campaign can hardly be sustained against the will of the private sector.
Nadal spoke about the importance of transparency in the fight against corruption. He believes that it is indispensable to have international standards that require control of political leaders. This conference is instrumental to put pressure on our governments and international organisations, such as the OECD and others that develop standards and guidance to their members. In particular, the following issues are important in the fight against corruption:
1.  Reinforce asset declaration systems. Governments should make compulsory to all ministers and MPs to declare their assets to an independent body that has a clear mandate established by the law. These declarations should also be made available to the public.
2.  Coordination of the actions of law enforcement bodies at the national and international level.
3.  The involvement of civil society and citizens is vital for democracy. Our democracy cannot wait only for the voting sanction. Open data is crucial and helps to strengthen the quality of the link between citizens and the government and to improve services and management of public resources.
Simon Peh: spoke about the success of Hong Kong in fighting corruption. For him, “a vibrant integrity culture is the best defence against corruption”. Hong Kong has adopted the “Ethics for all approach” to ensure that citizens would resist corruption from the onset. The Hong Kong formula (IACC) consists of: (i) Integrated approach: focus on law enforcement, corruption prevention and community relations and education; (ii) Activate public participation; collaboration with stakeholders (e.g. partnership with chambers of commerce, establishment of ethics office network in the public sector departments); customising programmes for specific targets (e.g. tailor made trainings, best practice guides, etc) and use of social media to engage the youth.
Salil Shetty: There is a deep interdependence between human rights and corruption and if we want any of these movements to succeed we should join forces. People experience corruption and human rights abuses in a very similar way. Some say that corruption undermines democracy and the rule of law and leads to human rights violations. But the contrary is also true: the deterioration of human rights opens the space to corruption and erodes democracy and the rule of law. In a meeting with the Malaysian government he heard from officials that If they were to give freedom to people, they could end up having an Arab Spring in Malaysia. Salil believes however on the contrary; it is the lack of freedom and space to raise concerns that may lead to a revolution.

Briefly describe the highlights including the thematically interesting questions and ideas that were generated from the discussion or from the floor, and session quotes by speakers.

How do you sustain ethics for all? According to Simon Peh, it is necessary to shift from the traditional media tools to social media to keep the new generation educated. Cobus considers that the biggest obstacles for achieving ethics for all relate to the fact that usually the tone is set at the top, that is difficult to have ethics in an unethical environment and that everyone must be equal before the law.
How do we protect civil society as they try to get ethics for all? In the last five years freedom of expression and assembly has gone backwords. Currently, approximately 60 countries are in the process of creating laws that restrict freedom of information and association.
That is one of the reasons why the linkages between human rights and corruption are so important. You need people to hold their government and companies to account. As such, bottom up pressure is key. But also, institutions and laws, such as whistleblower protection, freedom of expression, among others, should be in place to ensure people can provide evidence, denounce, and protest. Frank stressed that human rights and corruption are allies and intermingled. You cannot separate the two – woman and girls are affected disproportionately by corruption. Women rights are human rights and we should not forget it.
Public support is also key and is often difficult to build public understanding and trust in new anti-corruption institutions. That is why Mr. Nadal believes there should exist strong laws concerning public servants. Law enforcement and judges should not suffer from influence of the government.
The session also discussed the current situation in Malaysia. Mr. Tunku mentioned that when he founded Transparency International in Malaysia they had a Prime Minister who misgovernment the country for 22 years, using every repressive apparatus of state to keep people down. Under the current government these repressive laws have been changed and this is a tremendous sense of achievement. Mr. Tunku also mentioned that he has always defended the independence of the MACC. With regard to denounces that the current government has interfered in investigations conducted by the MACC, Mr. Tunku stated that there has been an investigation into this matter by the board of the anti-corruption commission and the MACC has already issued a strong statement calling on the government to stop all sorts of interference.
Cobus concluded by saying that solutions against impunity may vary a lot, but that the truth is always a key part of it. He also underscored that Malaysians deserve to know the truth about the $700m that made its way into the Prime Minister’s personal bank account.
Cobus also stressed the importance of each one of us in the fight against corruption: “No one can fight corruption alone, but everyone can make a difference” and presented TI’s Declaration against corruption – which consists of basic actions but still powerful to achieve change. You can find the declaration against corruption here.
He finalised asking everybody to join TI – all forms of corruption must be ended to secure the basic rights of all people and secure that everyone can live in dignity.

What are the key recommendations, follow-up Actions (200 words narrative form)

Corruption and human rights movements should work together to ensure civil society has the necessary space to hold governments to account, that freedom of information is protected and that impunity for corruption and human rights abuses is not tolerated.
Law enforcement authorities and anti-corruption agencies need autonomy and independence to conduct their tasks and guarantee that corruption is timely and fairly punished. Public officials should commit to the highest levels of integrity, including by regularly declaring their assets, interests and donations received.

Key Insights that could be included in the IACC Declaration ?

Rapporteur’s name and date submitted

Maira Martini, 04/09/2015

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