TI Pakistan

TI report calls for whistleblower protection and effective implementation of anti-corruption reform in Pakistan

Transparency in procurement is a high priority, says TI report, launched alongside new TI Corruption Perceptions Index, showing rampant corruption in 60 countries, including Pakistan

Karachi/Berlin, 20 October 2004 --- "In spite of more vigorous enforcement of anti-corruption laws under the regime of President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan is still perceived to have an unacceptably high level of corruption,” said Shaukat Omari, Executive Director of Transparency International Pakistan, today. Speaking on the occasion of the launch of a new study into the state of Pakistan’s institutions to combat corruption, praised as an “excellent document” the comprehensive national strategy to tackle corruption, formulated in 2002 by the National Accountability Bureau. He cautioned, however, that “more work is needed to implement the strategy”.

The strategy was drawn up with the participation of a wide spectrum of society. However, according to the National Integrity Systems TI Country Study Report Pakistan 2003, published today, implementation is shown to have been less than wholly effective. “With the commitment to integrity emphasised by the newly formed cabinet, under the able guidance of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan has another opportunity to speed up implementation,” “This opportunity must not be lost.” TI Pakistan is the national chapter of Transparency International (TI), the leading non-governmental organisation devoted to fighting corruption worldwide.

The TI report points to an urgent need to address civil service reform, to tackle issues such as the “living wage”, a clear code of conduct for civil servants, clear rules on conflict of interest and nepotism, and effective monitoring of implementation, including the removal of corrupt officials. Discretionary powers must be significantly reduced, states the report. An easy complaints mechanism for citizens and colleagues alike, as well as “whistleblower” protection, are also needed.

A complete overhaul of the country’s procurement system, rules and institutions is needed. “The success of TI Pakistan in helping the City of Karachi, among others to save large sums of money on its public procurement shows the value of a transparent, accountable and predictable procurement system which ensures value for money.”

TI Pakistan recommendations include the need for full transparency of the bid evaluation process, the need to apply strict and transparent procedures to the selection of consultants, and the desirability of using the TI-developed no-bribes Integrity Pact to major investment projects. Under an Integrity Pact, all parties to the bidding process make an undertaking not to take bribes or to pay bribes. The breach of this pact results in sanctions, including forfeit of the contract and blacklisting from future bidding.

The Public Procurement Rules announced in June 2004, must be implemented and monitored across the board and in all government organizations and departments.

Speaking in London today at the launch of the TI Corruption Perceptions Index 2004, TI Chairman Peter Eigen said: “Corruption in large-scale public projects is a daunting obstacle to sustainable development, and results in a major loss of public funds needed for education, healthcare and poverty alleviation, both in developed and developing countries.”

In the TI Corruption Perceptions Index 2004, Pakistan scores 2.1 against a clear score of 10, indicating persistent rampant corruption. In the Corruption Perceptions Index, Pakistan has consistently featured among the most corrupt 10 per cent of countries ranked, with scores ranging between 2.1 and 2.7. “This is not a very enviable position," states the National Integrity Systems TI Country Study Report Pakistan 2003.

TI estimates that the amount lost due to bribery in government procurement is at least US$ 400 billion per year worldwide. “If we hope to reach the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, governments need to seriously tackle corruption in public contracting,” said Eigen.

A total of 106 out of 146 countries score less than 5 against a clean score of 10, according to the new index. Sixty countries score less than 3 out of 10, indicating rampant corruption. Corruption is perceived to be most acute in Bangladesh, Haiti, Nigeria, Chad, Myanmar, Azerbaijan and Paraguay, all of which have a score of less than 2.

The National Integrity Systems TI Country Study Report Pakistan 2003 states: "It is a common perception …both in civil society and in…government that corruption at the top levels of government has significantly declined – but at the middle and lower levels … corruption still thrives almost unabated.” The report, which was made possible with the funding of the UK Government's Department for International Development, identifies some priority areas for reform.

Central to government efforts to tackle corruption should be the awareness and implementation of “strong and effective Freedom of Information legislation”, says the report. The role of the media and of civil society is also highlighted by the report, which notes that the media has been relatively independent but that without the implementation of the Freedom of information Ordinance it cannot function effectively.

The police are considered by many in Pakistan to be particularly corrupt, according to the authors of the report, and the Police Reforms Ordinance in 2002 is an attempt to limit the powers of the police. “It has recommended the establishment of Federal and Provincial Public Safety Commissions, Criminal Justice Co-ordination Committees and an independent complaints handling authority. The separation of investigation and prosecution functions should also enhance the due process of law and is welcome. The Police Ordinance 2002 has also tried to insulate the police from political pressure.”

The report continues: “The experience with the newly established motorway police appears to demonstrate that sufficient pay, a well-structured job, effective monitoring and the creation of pride in the job can be effective.”

There is also an urgent need, said the TI-Pakistan spokesman, for a “disclosure of assets” programme under which the disclosure forms are actually checked, verified, made publicly accessible, and action is taken, if suspicion of wrongdoing emerges. The importance of oversight institutions, such as the Auditor-General, the ad hoc Public Accounts Committee and the Ombudsman Office, is also stressed in the TI report.

The National Integrity Systems TI Country Study Report - Pakistan 2003 was prepared by Barrister Naimur Rahman, Mohamed Abdul Rahman and TI-pakistan, under the auspices of a programme developed by the Transparency International Secretariat together with Professor Alan Doig and Stephanie McIvor of the Teesside Business School in the United Kingdom. It is the latest in a series of TI country study reports on national integrity systems.

The National Integrity Systems TI Country Study Report - Pakistan 2003 can be downloaded from this site or, with and other country study reports, at
www.transparency.org/activities/nat_integ_systems/country_studies.html

Conference, 20 August 2003: Business community, donor agencies,diplomatic corps and government of Pakistan sign pledge to people of Pakistan to combat corruption.

The President of Pakistan Gen Pervez Musharraf lists basic ingredients to check corruption.

The Conference was organized so as to provide a neutral but ‘high-profile’ forum in which the Key Stakeholders declared their intention through an Integrity Pledge to combat corruption at all levels. Transparency International chaired this conference as a neutral and impartial intermediary.

The Conference provided a platform for the Business Community to present its problems to the nation and the actions it intends to take to fight corruption in the private Sector. It gave them an opportunity to commit to the implementation of the OECD Convention on Combating Corruption and the SECP Code of Corporate Governance. On the other hand it also gave an opportunity to the Donor Agencies and the Government of Pakistan to declare its intentions to remedy the problems facing the business community and the actions it intends to take to fight corruption in the Public Sector. It was an opportunity for the government of Pakistan to commit to the implementation of the ADB-OECD Anti Corruption Action Plan and the National Anti-corruption Strategy The commitments given the different stakeholders through the Integrity Pledge will we hope go a long way in not only combating corruption but in improving the image of Pakistan in the International Investors Community.

This conference was the first step in an image building process and a means of informing the People of Pakistan and the International community of the of the actions that are presently being undertaken by the government of Pakistan. It will also help send a clear message both to the National and the International Investor that, both the Government and the Business Community mean business.

1.The Pledge
2.The Program of the Conference
3.The Speech

The conference was attended by nearly 300 participants that included

The Speakers at the Conference:

The President of Pakistan, the Miinister of Imvestrment and Privatization, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Chairman National Accountability Bureau, The Chairman Security and Exchange Commission, The Auditor General of Pakistan, The President- International Chairman of Commerce Pakistan, the Vice President Federation Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the United States Ambassador to Pakistan, the Resident Country Director - World bank, The Resident Country Director Asian Development Bank, the Resident representative International Monetary Fund, and Executive Director Transparency International Pakistan.

The Guests included

The Resident Representative USAID, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Donor Agencies, Federal Ministers, Federal Secretaries, Chairman PTCL, Former Ministers and Governors, the Representatives from Local Government, Members of Local Chamber of Commerce, and mmembers of the Busines Community.

Gulshan Town launches website to improve functioning

News International Pakistan (http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/index.html)

KARACHI: The Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town has launched its website to provide almost each and every information regarding Town set up, its functions, details of all important institutions, recreational spots etc within its limits; and open access and free flow of information to the public.

Nazim Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town Abdul Wahab inaugurated the website (www.gulshantownkarachi.gov.pk), developed in collaboration with Transparency International, at a ceremony held at the Town head office on Thursday. Town Naib Nazim Saleem Azhar, Town Municipal Officer Matanat Ali Khan, Public Relations Officer Almas Rizwan, UC Nazims, Naib Nazims and a large number of area people attended the ceremony.

The launching of the website was a part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which reached between the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town and Transparency International to go ahead with the implementation of the "Integrity Pact" and the "Open" systems in the Town.

Presenting demonstration of the website, Abdul Wahab said that the website was quite informative, useful, impressive that focussed citizens' need. Many useful information like the map of the town, names of Nazim, Naib Nazim, Town Municipal Officer and their contact numbers, etc can be seen with a click on the link of the town website.

"Other links provide opportunity to town people to lodge complaints on any issue, whereas procedure for getting birth & death certificates is also defined while its application form could also be downloaded from the website," he added.

"Besides other information, the town residents could also get details about the development schemes, its tenders, contracts etc which would help them keep an eye on the performance of the town administration," he maintained.

The town Nazim said that the website also had links to other important websites including various federal and provincial government departments, international organisations, and renowned NGOs.

Shaukat Omairi of Transparency International said that in next phase the website would be upgraded and people would be provided a facility to find the address and location of any resident within town limits.

Explaining the objectives of the Integrity Pact and Open Systems, he said that it intended to keep all roads and streets clean by removing encroachments, develop its parks and gardens, systematically improve its roads and streets, provide an equitable distribution of water, improve its sewerage and garbage collection system, provide adequate street lighting, collection of taxes, establish a citizen friendly administration and reduce corruption in the administration.

Omairi said that the open system would allow easy access to monitor procedures through internet; transparency and access to real time information on the details of handling civil applications; increasing credibility for access to information to all citizens thereby removing public distrust. "Lets say that a person applied for a building permit. He can check through internet whether the application has been received, when final approval will be granted and if there are any complications," he maintained.

Nazim UC PIB, Engineer Sabir Ahmad said that the town administration considered its residents as its clients as they paid taxes to the town. "We want to facilitate our clients in a manner that their applications for any matter is approved through internet within a couple of days without making them to visit the offices," he added.

Sabir said Customer Service Centre within the town would be formed to receive complaints and get the same rectified. A building has already been selected for the cited centre and all UCs of the Town would be provided two computers each and be hooked to the Customer Service Centre, he added.

Transparency international reminds private sector of role in curbing corruption

Business Recorder

KARACHI (October 25 2002) : The Transparency International (TI) has stressed the need for reminding the "private sector in Pakistan of its very special responsibility in the country's renewal efforts" to root out corruption in the society.

The Berlin-based TI, in its observations, acknowledged the present government's determination to fight corruption, saying that it "has indeed taken a number of significant steps towards that end."

In its observations and recommendations (May 2002) on Pakistan's anti-corruption programme, the TI said: "Active bribery and corruption are criminal acts in Pakistan as elsewhere. Behaviour, suggesting that the government can be held to ransom, should not be tolerated.

It said the law offered sanctions and those sanctions should be applied systematically, so as to achieve a maximum deterrent effect.

The TI suggested that the government should focus its attention a bold "Freedom of Information (FoI) law", giving citizens the right of full, easy and largely free access to most information of the government.

"A few sensitive areas, like defence-related matters and personal data, can be protected and excluded, but the bulk of information should be accessible," the TI suggested.

It said the FoI movement was started in Sweden in 1766, and today all industrial countries, with a very few exceptions, had broad FoI legislation. Pakistan's official Secrets Act stemmed from time when the administrators had mostly control functions; in today's world of "service to the public", the old approach should be abandoned and replaced by a modern law.

The FoI - and the transparency of government created by it - acted as a major hurdle to corruption, as global experience clearly indicated, said the TI.

The TI's Corruption Perception Index showed a clear co-relation between strong FoI legislation and very low corruption levels in a country.

It observed that "Pakistan has had a Freedom of Information Ordinance, 1997 and a draft ordinance to provide for transparency and freedom of information, August 2000, and said both the previous texts were rather restrictive.

"Both the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan have prepared broader model FoI laws," the TI mission said, and urged the government to take guidance by the carefully developed two model laws.

The TI further said that in addition to promulgating a strong FoI law, the government should adopt an equally bold pro-active information policy under which most government activities were made public at an early stage, so that the citizens could contribute to the development of policies - and exercise their legitimate control function.

The draft ordinances and laws should be shared with the public at the early formative stage (negative examples appear to be the NEPRA and PEMRA acts), even before the elections to a national legislature, and major investment projects should be discussed with all the stakeholders at an early stage, perhaps through public hearings, when the changes were still possible, it said.

To change the general acceptance of corrupt practices over time, the TI said, a concerted long-term effort was required to educate the people - starting with school children, the formal education system and general media efforts.

About the role of civil society, the TI said that Pakistan today had a large number of civil society organisations, which were anxious to play their role of contributing to public activities, and, at the same time, to monitor public institutions and hold their officials to account.

The TI mission felt that even among the most professional non-governmental organisations, there was much frustration about the suspicion with which they were looked upon by the government.

The TI, being an active part of civil society, taking in any country a non-confrontational approach and instead seeking to build coalitions between the government, the international donor community, the business community and civil society, hoped that the government would seriously consider inviting the civil society of Pakistan to take a larger role than heretofore - to the benefit both of the government and all the people in the country.

The TI, Pakistan, has begun several rather promising activities in Karachi, ranging from introducing the TI's Integrity Pact concept to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board's procurement for a major investment project, to working with the Nazims of Karachi and of one of the new town councils in Karachi towards bringing significantly increased transparency to all the towns' activities, and to working with several dozen primary schools toward putting the corruption topic on the agenda through school plays, contests etc.

Pakistani politicians pledge to combat corruption

Political leaders publicly commit to clean up government at the invitation of anti-corruption watchdog TI-Pakistan

Islamabad, 19 September 2002: Party leaders from across the political spectrum convened at the Conference Centre in Islamabad on Thursday, 19 September 2002 to commit their parties to the service of the people of Pakistan by ensuring that all of those elected in October will confront corruption effectively.

The conference was also addressed by the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, who gave his own pledge to the people of Pakistan to continue the fight against corruption.

The conference was convened by Transparency International, in conjunction with TI-Pakistan (Pakistan's national chapter in the global TI movement), as a politically neutral and impartial body. It was chaired by Jeremy Pope, Shazadi Beg, Jeremy Carver and Shaukat Oman. It was attended by nearly all leading political parties contesting the elections: ANP, JI, Millat, MQM, NAP, PML(N), PML(QA), PPP(S) and SDA.
Also present were leading members of the Cabinet, representatives of the diplomatic corps and donor organisations, including the World Bank and IMF, representatives of civil society and students.

After political leaders had addressed the conference, committing themselves and their parties to the fight against corruption, the party leaders signed a formal pledge to the people of Pakistan. In the pledge, they commit themselves to adopting and implementing an effective anti-corruption reform programme which will strengthen accountability and transparency throughout all levels of federal, provincial and local government.

They conclude by saying that "on a personal level, each of us gives our individual pledge that we are dedicated to serving the people of our country with the highest levels of personal integrity".

The participants believed that this was an historic occasion for Pakistan, because for the first time political leaders had come together to form a united front across parties and personalities against one of the greatest evils of our time. They saw this is a major advance in creating a mature democracy in which politicians serve the people, and not their own personal interests.

In the past few years, the fight against corruption in Pakistan has been waged with increasing success. Internationally, Pakistan is seen as having made headway. However, there is still a very long way to go before the country achieves acceptable levels of social and economic progress and a just and honest environment for all. The progress represented by the National Accountability Bureau and the recently formulated National Anti-Corruption Strategy must be sustained; and the participants agreed that they should meet again after the elections to discuss how reform can most effectively be carried forward.

Media Contact:
Transparency International Secretariat
Jana Kotalik (TI Press Officer)
Tel: +49 30 3438 2061
Fax: +49 30 3470 3912
press@transparency.org

Or for further information, please contact:
In Islamabad: Ms Shadazi Beg (Marriott Hotel), Tel: +92 (0) 51 2826 121
In Karachi: Shaukat Omari (TI-Pakistan), Tel: +92 (0) 21 4544 433,
mobile: +92 (0)303

Click here to download the Integrity Pledge in PDF format.

Pakistan's standing improves in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)

Transparency International, in its release on August 28th of its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for the year 2002, finds Pakistan with a substantially improved rating.

Pakistan has improved its position from the 11th most corrupt country in 2001 to the 24th most corrupt country in its recent release. Pakistan being ranked above 23 other countries. It may be mentioned that in its first CPI published by TI in 1996 Pakistan was perceived to be the 2nd most corrupt country.

The CPI is a poll of polls, reflecting the perceptions of business people and country analysts, both resident and non-resident with regards to the corruption within the country..

The TI Report indicates that corruption within Pakistan has reduced in the last 12 months. This is indicated on a scale of 10 (least corrupt – most clean), where in this period Pakistan has increased its Score from 2.3 in 2001 to 2.6 in 2002. Even though the score itself is not good in itself, but it shows that there is an improvement. On the other hand the score of India has remained 2.7 in the last two years.

Pakistan has also improved over eight countries that were cleaner than Pakistan in 2001. These countries over which Pakistan has improved are, the Philippines, Romania, Zambia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Vietnam and Kazakhstan. Bangladesh which was at the lowest rank in 2001 unfortunately maintains the same position this year. In actual numbers Pakistan has improved its position on the CPI from 79 out of 91 countries in 2001 to 77 out of 102 countries in 2002.

The new index, published today by Transparency International (TI), the world’s leading non-governmental organization fighting corruption, ranks 102 countries. Seventy (70) of these countries – including many of the world’s most poverty-stricken – scored less than 5 out of a clean score of 10.

The recent large-scale corporate scandals in the USA, involving billions of dollars, are also a clear indication that the supposedly clean countries are really not so clean and that the less corrupt are really not less corrupt. There is one consolation for the third world and less developed countries, that we at least can lay a major part of the blame of our corruption on the Government of the developed countries for allowing their business community to bribe public officials in our country these past many years, whereas, what reason can they give for the corruption in theirs? We for one cannot be blamed.

In consequence of this thinking and to be fair, Transparency International has also published its Bribe Payers Index (BPI) in May 2002. The BPI addresses the propensity of companies from top exporting countries to bribe in emerging and third-world markets. The BPI 2002 revealed high levels of bribery by firms from Russia, China, Taiwan and South Korea, closely followed by Italy, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, USA and France – although many of these countries since 1999 have signed the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, which outlaws bribery of foreign public officials.

Mr Shaukat Omari, Executive Director TI Pakistan, announcing the CPI 2002, explained that the Bribe Payers Index (BPI) complements the CPI and highlights the fact that combating corruption in international business transactions involves both parties the giver and the taker of bribes. It is only a sustained effort by both that may see a cleaner and better world tomorrow.

Shaukat Omari
Executive Director
Transparency International – Pakistan
83-Q Khalid bin Waleed Road
Block – 2, PECH Society
Karachi – Pakistan
Tel: 0092-21-4552438 0092-21-5803518
Fax: 0092-21-4559152
e-mail omari@transparency.org.pk , ti-pak@khi.paknet.com.pk
Web site www.transparency.org.pk

TI-PAKISTAN APPEALS TO MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES TO INCLUDE WITHIN THEIR MANIFESTO AN ANTI-CORRUPTION ACTION PLAN.

TI-Pakistan has initiated a program of Political Reforms in which it has requested leaders of major political parties to prepare and submit to TI-Pakistan an Anti-Corruption Action Plan, along with recommendations and a questionnaire for them to respond to.

It must be mentioned that the last four democratically elected governments were not allowed to complete their terms and were dissolved due to allegations of corruption.

Letter to Political Parties; attachment

Questionnaire

COMBATING CORRUPTION IN THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC SECTOR

TI-Pakistan has approached the business community and the Government of Pakistan urging them to sign an Integrity Pact to combat corruption.

Action plan and questionnaire

Integrity Pact

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL PAKISTAN SIGNS MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THE KARACHI CITY TRAFFIC POLICE

TI-Pakistan is to provide its necessary recommendations and procedures for transparency within two police departments.

The two departments are: 1, the Driving Licence, and 2, the Motor Vehicle Fitness Department.

The Deputy Inspector General of Karachi City Traffic Police commented during the signing of the MOU that this is an historic document for the Police Department to sign.

Press release

Draft recommendations for obtaining a Learners Driving License (LDL)

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL PAKISTAN INVITED BY NATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY BUREAU (NAB) AT ITS INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON COMPLETION OF THE FIRST PHASE OF ITS STUDY ON ITS NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGY (N.A.C.S.) TO MAKE A PRESENTATION ON:

“Ensuring Transparency and Public Participation in Public Procurement in Pakistan”

The workshop was inaugurated by the President of Pakistan. Keynote speakers at this workshop included Jeremy Pope, Kamal Hossain and Jeremy Carver from Transparency International. The Chairman of NAB in his speech mentioned the good work done by TI-Pakistan in its Integrity Pact with the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.

Stakeholders at this workshop approved the recommendations put forward by TI-Pak. It is expected that if the NAB includes these recommendations in its final report on the NACS to be released within the next two months, the inclusion within these recommendations of the "Integrity Pact" will revolutionize procurement procedures within Pakistan, and if implemented the Pact will, it is hoped, make all procurement transparent.