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Selasa, 17 Mei 2016

Independent state institutions should be supported in fighting corruption


JOHANNESBURG, 17 May 2016

The Constitutional Court today heard arguments in the application by Mr Robert McBride, the suspended Executive Director of the Independent Police Investigation Directorate (IPID).
McBride is seeking an order from the Court to confirm a previous judgment by the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Pretoria regarding the independence of IPID, that would determine whether or not the Minister of Police has the constitutional power to institute disciplinary actions against the head of IPID. Such actions include the right to suspend or terminate the contract of the Executive Director of IPID.
McBride was suspended by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko on 25 March 2015.
Judgment has been reserved.
McBride’s petition to the Court concerns the principle of protecting independent State institutions. Since the latter part of 2014, we have seen, in quick succession, the removal of high-ranking state officials who had previously served government with distinction. These officials had built public trust in the institutions they led. (Please see the list and details of affected officials, attached to this statement).
The events at the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI or the “Hawks”), IPID, the South African Revenue Service (SARS), Crime Intelligence in the SAPS, the State Security Agency, Denel and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), are not unrelated. There appears to be a remarkable coincidence in the methods used to remove officials from these institutions, the players involved and their intersecting interests.
In our view, attacks on individuals in these institutions are aimed at undermining the fight against corruption. A key part of all of our mandates was to investigate cases of corruption. In reviewing our individual experiences over recent weeks, we have discovered a convergence in the cases that we were working on. A common thread is that cases under investigation involved individuals or entities with questionable relationships to those in public office. Most of these cases involved state tenders of some kind that were awarded due to patronage with influential individuals in public office.
The manner in which officials were removed has followed a similar pattern. Internal documents or “allegations” from within institutions are leaked to select journalists. Working in tandem with “anonymous” sources, facts are distorted in the media. It is unclear how the leaks happen, but they do not originate from the accused. After the information is leaked, the institution in question then launches an “investigation” into the accused officials, using news reports as pretext. The results of these “investigations” are then leaked to the same journalists again.
During the “investigations” the affected officials are suspended and prevented from defending themselves publicly. They are never called to answer to any allegations by the investigators. Any representation is usually ignored, distorted or rejected by the institution in question. The investigations are open-ended and the allegations constantly change. When an “investigation” fails to reach a conclusion, the institutions enter into settlements with the officials. Later, based on the same allegations that preceded the settlement, officials are then criminally charged. It appears from this pattern that the intent is to hound officials out of institutions and destroy their credibility publicly.
Throughout, the affected officials are required to bear all the costs for their legal defence although the charges against them relate directly to the execution of their duties as state officials. The state, on the other hand, can rely on unlimited resources.
In all institutions cited here, the effective top leadership was removed and replaced. The replacements then institute far reaching structural and operational changes in the institutions. Often, the replacements themselves face legal challenges by public interest groups based on, either their appointments, or their subsequent actions.
Where matters have gone to court, the courts have consistently found in favour of the affected officials with cost orders against their institutions, only for them to be suspended again and investigated on a new slate of allegations. This was so in the matters of Messrs Robert McBride, Ivan Pillay, Peter Richer, Anwa Dramat, Shadrack Sibiya, Johan Booysen, and Glynis Breytenbach, amongst others.
It appears that the pattern of questionable processes has also been applied to the recent interactions of the Hawks with the Minister of Finance.  They sent him 27 questions at a time when it was not feasible to answer, insisted on an unduly urgent deadline, leaked the questions to the media and excoriated him publically to answer on the pain of legal consequences. During all of this, they did not disclose what offence, if any, they were investigating or whether he was a witness or suspect.
To date, it is not clear whether the Minister of Finance was even named in the complaint that was laid with the Police by SARS in May 2015. There was also complete disregard by the Hawks for the broader consequences to the economy.
With recent judgments in the Constitutional Court and other courts, it is clear that the rule of law, rationality and the promotion of good governance in the public sector must be the cornerstone for sound public administration. The incumbents should be sensitive that the South African public is keenly aware of their duties and the limits to their authority and will not allow them to abuse it with impunity.
Corruption is the biggest threat to our constitutional democracy. This cancer has turned former comrades against each other. People who shared the same trenches in the fight for liberation are now at each other’s throats for the sake of protecting corrupt activities. We should be concerned about the escalating levels of corruption and the damage it has inflicted on our country, service delivery, our economy and especially the poor. In January this year Transparency International ranked South Africa 61 out of 167 countries in its Corruption Index.  According to Global Financial Integrity (GFI), South Africa loses about R147 billion through the illicit movement of money out of the country.
We will continue to use our experience and expertise to investigate, fight and expose corrupt activities in the private and public sector. We will continue to seek legal recourse from the courts in our respective matters against state institutions.
Although the immediate objective of our defence is private, our legal actions have a bearing on the public interest. In the first instance, they are aimed at curbing our harassment and intimidation by the state. Further, our actions will bring light to the true reasons for the abuse of state resources in the manner described above. We call on those in business, civil society, organised labour, NGOs and the general public who value and want to defend our constitutional democracy, to assist our efforts with legal advice and expertise and legal and financial resources. DM
Issued on behalf of:
  • Mr Robert McBride – suspended Executive Director: IPID
  • Ivan Pillay – former SARS Deputy Commissioner
  • Anwa Dramat – former National Head of the Hawks
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NAB arrests senior Foreign Ministry official over ‘corruption’




ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday apprehended a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his involvement in human smuggling and 
possessing assets beyond means, ARY News reported.
 

NAB officials rounded up Shafqat Ali Cheema, director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a raid at his office. The anti-graft body said the inquiry against Cheema was initiated upon the request of the ministry.
Cheema misused his powers and made assets worth more than his income, according to NAB sources. He was in-charge of desk that oversees affairs relating to Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. NAB has also recovered Rs 50 million from his account.
On the other hand, the anti-graft body caught its own official red-handed in Karachi while he was receiving bribe. The official of NAB’s Investigation Wing-III, Kamran Janwari, was probing irregularities in Town Municipal Administration (TMA) Chachro.
He was arrested on charges of receiving bribe by pressurizing a government official suspected of corruption.
According to NAB, Kamran Janwari obtained illegal benefits worth up to Rs 1,50,000. After being caught red-handed, a case was lodged against him under relative clauses of bribery.
Sumber  : http://arynews.tv/en/nab-arrests-senior-foreign-ministry-official-corruption/
Support by : http://www.saynotocorruptionstore.com/
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Senin, 16 Mei 2016

BNP forms committee to probe mega corruption scandal

 
QUETTA: Balochistan National Party on Sunday formed a committee to probe the mega corruption scandal involving the party’s lawmakers


“We have launched self-accountability of our legislators after this scandal,” National Party President Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo announced at a press conference in the provincial capital.
“The committee would probe the funds of the party’s legislatures. If anyone of them is found involved in corruption, he would be expelled,” he said.
The move comes after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) recovered bags full of local and foreign currencies from the residence of Balochistan former secretary finance Mushtaq Raisani.
Following the recovery of money, finance adviser to Balochistan chief minister Mir Khalid Langove, who also belongs to the National Party, tendered resignation from his post till the completion of probe into the mega corruption scandal. –Samaa


 

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Policy Nigeria, the UK and the semantics of corruption

Despite the uproar and criticism which trailed Mr David Cameron’s description of Nigeria and Afghanistan as fantastically corrupt, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is correct (and even the Nigerian President agrees). Corruption is so embedded into the everyday life in Nigeria, that the head of the previous government tried to reduce its influence by declaring that not every act of stealing should be considered corruption. The present state (or situation, if you like) of Afghanistan is itself a creation of corruption—of invading powers (Russia) and interfering powers (the US, Pakistan and co) as well as via the campaign of terrorism and counter terrorism. So yes, Mr Cameron is correct with his statement, he only left out some facts, among which are that his country, the UK, it’s key ally the US, and several Western nations are just as fantastically corrupt as Nigeria and Afghanistan. The difference between both category of nations is only a matter of semantics, not substance.
Corruption in the UK goes right up to the Prime Minister himself. A simple Google search of “David Cameron” produces “Panama Papers,” and links to his admittance of profiting from a Panama-based offshore trust set up by his tax-evading late father. However, Corruption in the UK goes well beyond the alleged dealings of Mr Cameron and pervades how the large British corporations do business and influence government actions. For example, the Financial Times in April, reported that the 10 biggest misconduct scandals have cost the Britain’s banks and building societies almost £53bn in fines and other penalties since 2000. Another word for “misconduct scandals” is of course Fantastical Corruption, and the Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s biggest bank, has singularly paid £14bn in such charges between 2010 and 2014.
Corruption in the United States of America can be seen through the country’s many economic antitheses. The US is the richest country in the history of the world but has over 45 million people in abject poverty, and despite having the largest number of multinationals, it has an unemployment rate of 10 percent, thanks to their pervasive attitude of offshoring jobs for cheap labour. It was also the widespread financial corruption on Wall street—the financial centre of US and the World—which led to America’s greatest economic recession in a century and crashed economies around the world. The influence of corporate money in American politics is even much worse than in than in (you may want to add Fantastically Corrupt) third world countries, thanks to a 2010 US Supreme Court judgement that among other things, allowed unlimited financial donations to so-called Political Action Committees. Such overt influence of money in American politics is one of the reasons 75 percent of the American public see Widespread Government Corruption, more than 60 percent of the citizens do not trust the US Federal Government to handle domestic issues and 7 in 10 Americans disapprove of the US Congress.
Corruption is just as prevalent in Europe, visible in the economic wreck of Greece and woes of Spain, Italy and Portugal, the recent resignation of the Prime Minister of Iceland over the Panama Papers Scandal, the ongoing tax fraud trial of Princess Cristina of Spain, the elder sister of King Felipe VI and sixth in line to the Spanish throne and the corruption scandal rocking German Car giant Volkswagen, to name but a few. It is due to such widespread corruption that European citizens are increasingly losing faith in their governments and turning to far right/left parties (the Front Nationale in France and Podemos in Spain). Thus, from West Africa to the Western World, the scourge of corruption is, to borrow David Cameron’s word, Fantastical. It is only by admitting this, rather than revelling in slurring developing nations, that any meaningful victory can be achieved in fighting corruption.
Corruption is not only rife everywhere, it is interconnected and often has the same principal actors. The African leaders who have looted, and are still looting, their countries’ wealth would not have been able to do so without the support of top ranking business and political leaders in the West. The Swiss system of absolute banking secrecy was arguably put in place to abet the stashing of secret wealth, a venture in which the City of London is increasingly the global leader. According to Rules.Org, “the City of London is at the centre of the global web of tax havens that are aiding and abetting the theft of vast sums of money from the public around the world. More than half of the ‘secrecy jurisdictions’ identified by the Tax Justice Network have supply chain links to the UK. Crown Dependencies like Jersey and British Overseas Territories like the Cayman and British Virgin Islands rely on the City of London – on its permissive legal structures, tax rules and, crucially, its reputation for stability – for a large part of their business.” In essence, Panama is a piece of cake when it comes to the City of London.
In light of the above, it is significant then, that the Anti-Corruption Summit was held in London. This is because the most effective way to tackle the global wave of corruption will be to start at the root and this is where we often find the global controllers of capital—the multinational corporations and banking giants built out of the US, the UK and Europe. It is not a coincidence that the biggest corruption scandals have emanated, not from Nigeria or Afghanistan, but from Western Multinational giants such as the now-defunct Lehman Brothers. Tackling global corruption would thus require taming the excesses of these multinationals which often instigates corruption, tightening the financial sector of developed countries whose looseness aids and abets corruption everywhere and trimming down the corporate influence in the politics of the Western World.  These measures, not calling countries like Nigeria and Afghanistan names, would be much more effective in battling global corruption.

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