CPI top countries / Thailand anti-graft mission / Viet Nam campaign endures

CPI 2019: Trouble at the top.  “Despite some high-profile fines and prosecutions, our research shows that enforcement of foreign bribery laws among OECD countries is shockingly low. The outsized roles that some companies play in their national economies gives them political support that too often triumphs over real accountability. Some banks and businesses aren’t just too big to fail – they’re also too powerful to pay.”

Transparency International: https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/cpi_2019_Trouble_at_the_top

 

Anti-graft mission failing (Editorial).  “The [Thai] prime minister and those in power have over the past five years "talked a good fight" against graft, but failed to match it with effective blows. That failure naturally triggered questions about transparency, or the lack thereof.”

Bangkok Post: https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1845094/anti-graft-mission-failing   

 

Will Vietnam’s anti-corruption campaign endure beyond Trong?  “So while the new leadership will undoubtedly maintain the fight against corruption, it may be less broad and intense than it was under the watch of Trong. But this does not mean that the anti-corruption drive will become less consequential for Vietnam’s political economy.

Le Hong Hiep/East Asia Forum: https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2020/01/29/will-vietnams-anti-corruption-campaign-endure-beyond-trong/  

Fostering cleaner politics / World Bank data use / Bangladesh political will

Building political integrity to stamp out corruption: three steps to cleaner politics.  “Preventing undue influence in elections, ensuring that policy-making is not captured by narrow interests, and strengthening oversight and scrutiny of the decisions taken by those in power, are three of the basic building blocks for anti-corruption and good governance.”

Roberto Martínez B. Kukutschka, Jorge Valladares and Jon Vrushi/Transparency International: https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/cpi_2019_political_integrity

 

How the World Bank is using data to better detect fraud and corruption (Blog).  “We have recently embarked on a data modernization effort to better understand the fraud and corruption risks our institution faces and to better anticipate problems as they come up… we have built an online application to detect patterns among companies bidding on Bank-financed projects.”

Ethiopis Tafara/World Bank: http://blogs.worldbank.org/governance/how-world-bank-using-data-better-detect-fraud-and-corruption

 

Do we have the political will to improve? (Opinion).  “Such expectation [that Bangladesh would score better on the Corruption Perception Index] could also be attributed to the Prime Minister’s declaration in the context of the high-profile anti-corruption drive that no one involved in corruption would be spared, irrespective of political affiliation, including her own party.”

Iftekharuzzaman/The Daily Star: https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/news/do-we-have-the-political-will-improve-1858135

Davos Manifesto 2020 / Public contractors compliance / CPI 2019 infographic

Davos Manifesto 2020: The Universal Purpose of a Company in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.  “A company serves its customers by providing a value proposition that best meets their needs. It accepts and supports fair competition and a level playing field. It has zero tolerance for corruption.”

World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/12/davos-manifesto-2020-the-universal-purpose-of-a-company-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/

 

Requiring Public Contractors To Have Anticorruption Compliance Programs May Sound Like a Good Idea—But Not When Government Capacity Is Lacking (Blog).  “…as long as the public administration is not sufficiently prepared to evaluate the genuine effectiveness of such programs, imposing them by law is likely to generate unnecessary costs and frictions without producing meaningful substantive improvements in corporate policies or culture.”

Victor Aguiar de Carvalho/The Global Anticorruption Blog: https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2020/01/17/requiring-public-contractors-to-have-anticorruption-compliance-programs-may-sound-like-a-good-idea-but-not-when-government-capacity-is-lacking/

 

Where Corruption Is Rampant [Infographic].  “Despite anti-corruption movements gaining momentum around the world last year, the research found that a staggering number of countries have showed little to no improvement in tackling the problem.”

Niall McCarthy/Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/01/24/where-corruption-is-rampant-infographic/  

Thailand waste mismanagement / New KickBack Podcast / China ex-Interpol president

Trash Mountain, a story of severe waste mismanagement.  “…at the price of 5,000 baht [approx. US$165] per tonne, smugglers do little more than cart the trash away for dumping in municipal landfills, paying bribes to law enforcement and community members to turn a blind eye.

Jasmine Chia/Thai Enquirer: https://www.thaienquirer.com/7028/trash-mountain-a-story-of-severe-waste-mismanagement-2/

 

New Podcast, Featuring Charles Davidson (Podcast/Blog).  “Charles Davidson, currently the publisher of the American Interest magazine, and previously the co-founder of Global Financial Integrity and the Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative…discuss a variety of topics, including financial integrity, beneficial ownership transparency, and kleptocracy–including the threat that kleptocratic wealth from authoritarian states poses to liberal democracies, the use of targeted sanctions against individual corrupt actors, and concerns about how kleptocrats use Western institutions not only to launder their money, but also to launder their reputations.”

Matthew Stephenson and Charles Davidson/KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast: https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2020/01/14/new-podcast-featuring-charles-davidson/  

 

Former Interpol President Sentenced To Prison In China For Corruption.  Meng Hongwei pleaded guilty to using his position in China to finagle more than $2 million in bribes between 2005 and 2017. Prior to his 2016 election as Interpol president, he served more than a decade as China's vice minister of public security.

Colin Dwyer/NPR: https://www.npr.org/2020/01/21/798121397/former-interpol-president-sentenced-to-prison-in-china-for-corruption

CPI Asia Pacific / India electoral bond / Indonesia ex-party chairman

CPI 2019: Asia Pacific.  “A regional average of 45, after many consecutive years of an average score of 44, illustrates general stagnation across the Asia Pacific. Despite the presence of high performers like New Zealand (87), Singapore (85), Australia (77), Hong Kong (76) and Japan (73), the Asia Pacific region hasn’t witnessed substantial progress in anti-corruption efforts or results.”

Transparency International: https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/cpi_2019_Asia_Pacific

 

India’s New Electoral Bond Scheme Won’t Reduce Electoral Corruption. It Will Make the Problem Worse (Blog).  “…the reality is that India has enabled large-scale anonymous donations via shell companies in tax havens explicitly set up for this purpose. At a time when Western liberal democracies are grappling with the corrupting influence of big money in politics, India has just opened the floodgates, and done it in a way that shuts out any kind of oversight.”

Inayat Sabhikhi/The Global Anticorruption Blog:   https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2020/01/20/indias-new-electoral-bond-scheme-wont-reduce-electoral-corruption-it-will-make-the-problem-worse/

 

Former PPP Chairman Romahurmuziy Jailed for Graft.  “Judges at the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court said Romahurmuziy [Former United Development Party (PPP) chairman] was proven to have taken a bribe from two Religious Affairs Ministry officials in return for helping both men get a promotion.”

Jakarta Globe: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/former-ppp-chairman-romahurmuziy-jailed-for-graft

Pacific Anti-Corruption Updates (25 January 2020): PNG, Solomon Islands, Fiji

Storms brewing: Pacific outlook for 2020.  As a new decade dawns much of the Pacific is grappling with major upheavals from climate and health crises to political disruption and self-determination struggles. RNZ Pacific's Jamie Tahana and Johnny Blades look at the state of play across the region's countries and territories and what's on the cards for 2020.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/407554/storms-brewing-pacific-outlook-for-2020

 

PNG:

Human Rights Stagnate Under New Leadership in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape came to power last year with a promise to set straight the country’s troubled legacy of corruption, economic mismanagement and widespread human rights abuses, but progress remains slow according to a damning report released last week by Human Rights Watch. 

https://thediplomat.com/2020/01/human-rights-stagnate-under-new-leadership-in-papua-new-guinea/

 

SOLOMON ISLANDS:

Mangau: Janus still exists Acting Police Commissioner. Mostyn Mangau says anti-corruption taskforce Janus still exists and continuing with investigations into corruption cases.

http://www.solomonstarnews.com/index.php/news/national/item/22574-mangau-janus-still-exists

 

FIJI:

Former Assistant Treasurer of iTaukei Affairs Board pleads guilty to charges of corruption. FICAC charged Taniela Jerema with a count each of Obtaining a Financial Advantage and Causing a Loss.

https://fijivillage.com/news/Former-Assistant-Treasurer-of-iTaukei-Affairs-Board-pleads-guilty-to-charges-of-corruption--9s5k2r

 

Former staff of the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Natural Disaster and a company Director plead not guilty to corruption-related charges. A former staff of the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Natural Disaster and a company Director have pleaded not guilty to corruption-related charges in the Labasa Magistrates Court.

https://fijivillage.com/news/Former-staff-of-the-Ministry-of-Rural-and-Maritime-Development-and-Natural-Disaster-and-a-company-Director-plead-not-guilty-to-corruption-related-charges-25k9sr/

Japan casino bill / Open procurement FAQs / Malaysia Penang project

Japan opposition submits bill to scrap casino laws amid bribery scandal.  “Four major opposition parties introduced a bill to scrap laws on casino resorts to the Diet… “Casinos would be hotbeds of fraud and corruption,” a senior [Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan] official said.”

The Japan Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/01/20/national/politics-diplomacy/japan-opposition-bill-scrap-casino-laws/#.Xigd68j7Tb0

 

Five Frequently Asked Questions about Implementing Local Public Procurement Processes (Blog).  “…to make public contracting processes more open, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of people and to make data and documents in these procurement processes available to inform debate and decision making…governments can save tax money, make better use of public resources, deliver better public goods and services, boost integrity, and prevent fraud and corruption.”

Katria Tomko/Open Government Partnership: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/stories/five-frequently-asked-questions-about-implementing-local-public-procurement-processes/   

 

Penang dept director and son charged with graft, power abuse.  “[Mohd Saidi Midin, a] Penang National Unity and Integration Department director has been charged at the Sessions Court here with using his position to grant a project worth RM45,472 to a company belonging to his son four years ago.”

The Star: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/01/21/penang-dept-director-and-son-charged-with-graft-power-abuse