DATE=12/24/97
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-38547
TITLE=YEARENDER:FIGHTING CORRUPTION '97
BYLINE=FRANK RONALDS
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: 1997 SAW SOME BIG STEPS FORWARD IN THE FIGHT AGAINST
INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION. THE ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC
COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, WHICH INCLUDES MOST OF THE WORLD'S
ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES, SIGNED A DECEMBER CONVENTION TO
OUTLAW BRIBERY OF FOREIGN OFFICIALS. CORRESPONDENT FRANK RONALDS
REPORTS PROGRESS WAS ALSO MADE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
TEXT: TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL HAS LED THE EFFORT TO OUTLAW
TRANSNATIONAL BRIBERY. IT WAS ESTABLISHED IN BERLIN FIVE-YEARS
AGO BY CHAIRMAN PETER EIGEN.
WHILE WORKING FOR THE WORLD BANK IN LATIN AMERICA AND EAST
AFRICA, MR. EIGEN BECAME DISCOURAGED BY THE ECONOMIC DEVASTATION
CAUSED BY WIDESPREAD CORRUPTION -- CAUSED IN PART BY COMPANIES
BRIBING OFFICIALS OF THIRD-WORLD NATIONS. HE SAYS SINCE THEN,
THE WORLD BANK HAS JOINED IN THIS EFFORT TO STAMP OUT CORRUPTION
/// 1ST EIGEN ACT ///
LOOKING BACK AT THIS YEAR, THE REAL BREAKTHROUGH WAS OF
COURSE THE CONSENSUS THAT LED THE MEMBERS OF THE
O-E-C-D, WHICH ARE BASICALLY THE RICH COUNTRIES OF THE
WORLD, TO AGREE ON THE TEXT OF A CONVENTION WHICH WAS
SIGNED LAST WEEK IN PARIS. THE CONVENTION AIMS AT
CRIMINALIZING INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION. BECAUSE IN MANY
COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD THE CORRUPTION OF FOREIGNERS IS
NOT FORBIDDEN UNDER DOMESTIC LAWS. ONLY THE UNITED
STATES HAS THE FOREIGN CORRUPTION PRACTICES ACT, WHICH
MAKES IT ILLEGAL FOR AN AMERICAN TO BRIBE FOREIGNERS.
NOW THE CRIMINALIZATION OF FOREIGN BRIBERY IS THEREFORE
A MAJOR STEP FORWARD.
/// END ACT ///
PETER EIGEN SAYS THAT THERE ARE TWO DIMENSIONS TO THE WORK OF
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL
// 2ND EIGEN ACT //
ONE HAS TO DO WITH TRYING TO STOP THE SOURCE OF
CORRUPTION, WHICH LIES IN THE NORTH, IN THE
INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES. THE OTHER ONE IS TO HELP THE
PEOPLE IN THE SOUTH, OR IN THE EAST, AND THE COUNTRIES
OF TRANSFORMATION, TO STRENGTHEN THEIR CAPACITY TO
CONTROL CORRUPTION.
// END ACT //
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL IS LINKED TO NATIONAL CHAPTERS IN
COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE -- IN ARGENTINA THE CHAPTER HAS 20-THOUSAND
MEMBERS. TO GUIDE THEIR WORK, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL PUTS
OUT A SOURCE BOOK WHICH HAS BEEN TRANSLATED INTO CHINESE, ARABIC,
RUSSIAN, FRENCH, SPANISH, AND OTHER LANGUAGES.
MR. EIGEN SAYS THE INTEREST IN THE NATIONS MAKING THE TRANSITION
TO DEMOCRACY AND MARKET ECONOMIES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
IS ALMOST OVERWHELMING. THERE, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL
CHAPTERS HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE.
// 3RD EIGEN ACT //
QUITE A NUMBER OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
ARE MEMBERS THERE. THEY ARE IN THE PROCESS OF DRAFTING
INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATION AGAINST CORRUPTION. IT IS
VERY INTERESTING TO NOTE HOW MUCH THE PEOPLE IN THESE
COUNTRIES ARE RECOGNIZING THAT CORRUPTION OF THEIR
ELITES IS BASICALLY DESTROYING THE OPENING UP OF THEIR
ECONOMIES, OF THEIR DEMOCRACIES. THEREFORE WE FIND NOT
ONLY VERY STRONG GRASS ROOTS MOVEMENTS IN THESE
COUNTRIES, BUT ALSO A NUMBER OF VERY POWERFUL
POLITICIANS AND CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS THAT ARE MAKING
THIS ONE OF THEIR MOST IMMEDIATE CONCERNS.
// END ACT //
PROGRESS HAS ALSO BEEN STEADY IN LATIN AMERICA. IN SEPTEMBER,
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL SET UP AN ANTI-CORRUPTION CONFERENCE
IN LIMA, PERU, WHICH DREW ABOUT ONE-THOUSAND HIGH-LEVEL
PARTICIPANTS.
MR. EIGEN HOPES BY THE NEXT SUMMIT OF THE ORGANIZATION OF
AMERICAN STATES, SET FOR MARCH OF 1998 IN SANTIAGO, CHILE,
VIRTUALLY ALL THE MEMBER STATES WILL HAVE RATIFIED THE
INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION. HE SAYS AS A
RESULT OF FINANCIAL TURMOIL IN ASIA, MANY MORE PEOPLE THERE
RECOGNIZE THE DAMAGE CORRUPTION HAS BROUGHT TO THEIR SOCIETIES.
// 4TH EIGEN ACT //
ONE OF THE PROBLEMS IN ASIA IS THAT THERE ARE A NUMBER
OF COUNTRIES THAT ARE QUITE OPENLY CORRUPT. AND YET
THEY HAVE BEEN DOING QUITE WELL, IN TERMS OF GROWTH, IN
TERMS OF ECONOMIC PROSPERITY. AND THERE HAVE BEEN QUITE
A NUMBER OF OBSERVERS WHO HAVE SAID, 'LOOK, CORRUPTION
MAY NOT BE SO BAD FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.' NOW THE
RECENT CRISIS IN ASIA HAS SOMEHOW PULLED THE RUG FROM
UNDER THIS ARGUMENT. IN FACT, THERE ARE NOW QUITE A
NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO SAY IT IS THE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY,
THE LACK OF OPENNESS, IN SOME OF THESE ECONOMIES WHICH
HAS ALLOWED A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF DISTORTION TO CREEP INTO
THE ECONOMIC SITUATION., AND THEREFORE ONE OF THE
INGREDIENTS OF THE SOLUTION FOR ASIA HAS TO BE A HIGHER
DEGREE OF TRANSPARENCY.
// END ACT //
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL HOPES TO KEEP UP THE MOMENTUM.
ESPECIALLY IN THE CASE OF THE O-E-C-D CONVENTION. MR. EIGEN SAYS
THE AGREEMENT WILL NOT BECOME REALITY UNTIL INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES
FORMULATE NATIONAL LAWS WHICH WILL OBLIGATE EXPORTERS TO CARRY
OUT CONVENTION COMMITMENTS OR SUFFER FINANCIAL AND CRIMINAL
PENALTIES. (SIGNED)
NEB/RAE
24-Dec-97 11:42 AM EST (1642 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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