NATIONAL POLICIES ALLOCATION OF RESPONSIBILITIES Is an Anti-Corruption Agency a Good Thing? and What are country’s international obligations? Slides for a session at RIPA International © Denis Osborne, 2007

Ethics and Governance 2 WHO IS REPONSIBLE FOR WHAT?  Politicians, business leaders set example: provide political will, private sector leadership, Top-down  People pressure + media essential! Bottom-up  Voters to demand candidates explain wealth etc  Managers are responsible: Mid-level  All should maintain integrity, stop acting corruptly;  build trust, report corruption, help investigators  Specialist groups have roles; what?  Accountants, auditors, fraud examiners, bankers, investment managers, lawyers…

Ethics and Governance 3 SPECIALISTS, AGENCIES?  Specialists have their roles for:  LAW: lawyers including prosecutors and judges, law-makers  MONEY: auditors, forensic accountants, etc, tax collectors, investors, contractors, ‘business’  REGULATION: health, food and drugs, safety, environment  INVESTIGATION: investigators, with one agency responsible for criminal investigation?

Ethics and Governance 4 SPECIALISED A-C AGENCIES  Many different patterns  What do they do? Almost all INVESTIGATE, some do much more  How INDEPENDENT are they? To whom report?  What SAFEGUARDS vs misuse of power, funds? Described (Heilbrunn) by their mandate and accountability  Universal: (HK) investigation, prevention, education  Investigative only (Singapore’s CPIB)  Parliamentary (ICAC Australia NSW), and  No anti-corruption agency (US, UK) functions dispersed between other bodies (US, UK)

Ethics and Governance 5 CONTROVERSY ABOUT AGENCIES  Heilbrunn’s paper (WBI website?), ‘donor concerns’  Opposed mainly to Hong Kong multi-function pattern  Argues not effective elsewhere  Because never intended to be so – set up for show  BUT THAT would be true of any structures or patterns  Because multi-function expensive, as in HK  BUT Hong Kong staff mostly investigators  HK finds prevention more cost-effective  Good to link investigators with managers

Ethics and Governance 6 OTHER ISSUES Answers to questions may depend on local context, culture and history: YOU GIVE THEM  Should agency prosecute as well as investigate?  A  May agency initiate enquiry without any report?  B  Should agency examine all reports received?  C  Should it consider anonymous reports?  D

INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS Corruption as global problem affecting security, safety and trade requires global co-operation and standards, hence the UN Convention, UNCAC, the OECD Convention and other agreements

Ethics and Governance 8 COMPLIANCE  Compliance with international conventions that a government has ratified depends for the most part on politicians and lawyers  But managers do well to know about such things  To which does my government accept an obligation?  Do I consider those obligations met?  Would my advice on meeting them be: competent, welcomed, acceptable?  Might they provide arguments in favour of initiatives for which we want support?

Ethics and Governance 9 UNCAC, 2005 Purposes  strengthen measures to prevent and combat corruption (corruption not defined…)  facilitate international co-operation in this  including asset recovery wanted by ‘developing countries’  promote integrity in managing public affairs  including checks on money laundering wanted by ‘developed’ Four main issues  with 70 clauses or provisions

Ethics and Governance 10 UNCAC ISSUES Four main issues  Law  example: no bribes to win contracts, facilitation ‘OK’  Prevention  International co-operation  Asset recovery Balancing needs of developing and industrialised economies Countries asked to ratify Implementation reviewed from time to time

Ethics and Governance 11 OECD CONVENTION, 1997  Main feature: required governments to criminalise payment of bribes to foreign public officials  Passed 1997  Came into force  when countries ratified  aimed mainly at OECD members  ratified by some non-OECD members  some who ratified needed to amend laws  UK in process of changing law but legal processes very slow

Ethics and Governance 12 SEVERAL OTHERS  Some with less legal standing, but important, include  International Chamber of Commerce, ICC, with tougher stance than UNCAC on ‘facilitation payments’  Professional bodies and ‘standards’  Asia-Pacific Action Plan against Corruption; Africa?  Some requirements now by World Bank, etc  as condition for loans or aid  Requirements by companies  Pressures also from ‘conferences’  International Anti-Corruption Conferences, ‘IACC’, regional eg ADB with OECD