Anti-Corruption Organizations & Website Links
This is a slowly growing list of reference websites related to anti-corruption and started with a section from the SERBIAN anti-corruption agency webpage, so I will add more links as I find them. They are not currently in any particular order, but I am adding the major references at the top.
vj May 22, 2008.
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Iraqi Legal Database availability online in ARABIC (not english) - Jimmy Durso sent out this notice 9/14/2008:
The Iraqi Legal Database is now available online at www.iraq-ild.org (in Arabic). The database
makes available to users (free of charge) all Iraqi laws, regulations,
constitutions, orders, etc. from 1917 to 2008. The ILD was created by UNDP in
collaboration with the Iraqi High Judicial Council.
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Transparency International (TI) - this is the grand kahuna of anti-corruption organizations which receives funds from many countries and is based in Berlin, Germany. You need to become familiar with all their reports like the Corruption Perception Index, their annual Global Reports on Corruption, etc. They also have formed chapters in many countries, but no TI chapter yet exists in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
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US Department of Justice National Procurement Fraud Task Force - investigates procurement fraud, including foreign country reconstruction contracts. Was established Oct., 2006
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/npftf/
Here is a link to their first annual conference (Sept., 2008) and white papers
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/npftf/resource/2008conference.html There are many speech transcripts, but I notice all the speakers were from accademics, Federal government, or were attorneys. There were no Certified Internal Auditors, no Certified Government Auditors, or Certified Fraud Examiners. Thus they used insiders and no outside business expertise.
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Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative - a spinoff of TI for the oil, gas & minerals industries -
The EITI sets a global standard for companies to publish what they pay and for governments to disclose what they receive.
3.5
billion people live in countries rich in oil, gas and minerals. With
good governance the exploitation of these resources can generate large
revenues to foster growth and reduce poverty. However when governance
is weak, it may result in poverty, corruption, and conflict. The
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) aims to strengthen
governance by improving transparency and accountability in the
extractives sector.
The
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) supports improved
governance in resource-rich countries through the verification and full
publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas
and mining. http://eitransparency.org/
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Click here to reach US State Dept. Office of Inspector General's website.
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US Dept. of Defense (DoD) Inspector General website:
http://www.dodig.mil/
and, look up audit reports here:
http://www.dodig.osd.mil/Audit/reports/
Like this major report on Iraq Procurement presented to the House Oversight Committee on May 18, 2008:
http://www.dodig.mil/Audit/reports/fy08/08-098.pdf
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DCMA (Defense Contract Management Agency) - This is the key department for Defense procurement, and they have a website HERE ( http://www.dcma.mil/ ) plus a Brochure from the Contract Integrity Center ( DCMAC-Y ) which gives phone numbers to call to report a fraud related to DoD contracts. A page describing CiC is HERE. If you search on "corruption" on the DCMA website, you only get one link to the above brochure, but you get many links if you search on "Fraud". DCMA's Iraq office has a phone number on the website, but it is disconnected. The DCMA Middle east office phone numbers in Kuwait and other countries is HERE. When I was in Iraq, I hardly ever encountered DCMA. Probably because I was involved in the Iraq Reconstruction program and that was a civilian, not DoD program.
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United Nations - UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime) - This is the group within the UN that has responsibility to "fight" corruption. The UN's reputation regarding "fighting" corruption was pretty poor after the Iraqi Oil-For-Food scandal in 2004 & 2005 where over 2600 people and companies were found in the Volcker Committee report to have paid bribes or otherwise initiated corruption activities. However, the UN did initiate the UN Convention on Corruption, which makes it much easier for a country victimized by corrupt officials to prosecute them in other countries and retrieve the stolen funds. Just recently, Iraq signed the Convention and just announced lawsuits against many of the firms named in the Volcker Report that gained from Oil-for-Food (OFF) corrupt activities. The UN also has anti-corruption training programs, including one right now in Afghanistan. (July, 2008)
The UNODC webpage on Corruption is HERE:
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption/index.html
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INTERPOL Group of Experts on Corruption (IGEC)
http://www.interpol.int/Public/Corruption/IGEC/
The INTERPOL Group of
Experts on Corruption (IGEC), an outgrowth of the first International
Conference on Corruption-related Crime, held at the INTERPOL General
Secretariat in Lyon in April 1998, has been mandated by the INTERPOL General Assembly
to develop and implement various new anti-corruption initiatives to
further law enforcement’s efficiency in the fight against corruption. The IGEC is a multi-disciplinary group representing all
of INTERPOL’s regions which facilitates the co-ordination and
harmonisation of the different national and regional approaches to
combating corruption. In addition, the group includes a host of other
international stakeholders in the global anti-corruption campaign. The
rationale underlying this structure is the general belief that law
enforcement should combat corruption as a phenomenon holistically, in
co-operation with all major players and the community at large.
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INTERPOL Links page to other anti-corruption agencies
This page focuses mostly on police based agencies oriented towards reducing corruption within police departments, but there are quite a few listed, mostly for Europe and Africa.
While you are at the Interpol site, check out their section on corruption, including the IGEC above, but also the new INTERPOL anti-corruption training academy in Vienna, Austria.
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Presidential Executive Order 12731 - Principles of Ethical Conduct for US Federal Government Officers and Employees - requires all federal employees to disclose suspected waste, fraud, abuse and corruption. This includes instances discovered through DCAA audits.
US State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Anti-Corruption Initiatives - This State Dept. Bureau is buried in the hierarchy, but INL is the sole department that I have found in State that even seems to talk about corruption issues. They have written some white papers, but I haven't really seen that they do anything regarding corruption other than go to meetings. But, they did provide funds and staff to train Iraqi anti-corruption investigators. But, the four "Anti-Corruption Initiatives" listed on the above linked page are government gobbledegook without measurable specifics or success examples. THIS PAGE, however, lists anti-corruption programs in different worldwide regions, but it has not been updated since 2005. They seem to focus mostly on training for investigators and police, and not designing measurable impact programs. For instance, if they provide training, they should be able to describe measurable improvements in investigations and prosecutions for those trained, but that information is not listed. Without measuring the investigation outcomes of the trainees, how do we know they are doing or learning anything useful?
National & International Anti-Corruption Agencies
OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operations & Development ) - Creator of the OECD Convention on Combatting Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions - Provides rules for members to combat bribery. Calls for effective measures to deter, prevent and combat the bribery of foreign public officials in connection with international business transactions, in particular the prompt criminalisation of such bribery in an effective and co-ordinated manner and in conformity with the agreed common elements set out in that Recommendation and with the jurisdictional and other basic legal principles of each country
Inter-American Network for Cooperation Against Corruption - This is a cooperative group of mostly Latin American and Spanish speaking countries focused on sharing information through the Organization of American States (OAS). This webpage leads you to an index of pages for each Latin American country that lists their anti-corruption agencies, etc. My earlier research in 2004 found that even USAID and State Dept seemed to fund more relevant, practical anti-corruption agencies in Latin America than in the Middle East ( perhaps due to a different region hierarchy within the State Dept.)
Unites States Anti-Corruption page on OAS website - This lists many of the US agencies related to anti-corruption, including the IG's, FBI, GAO, Justice Dept., etc. So it is a good resource for US sources.
Serbian Anti-Corruption Commission
INTOSAI ( International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions ) - this worldwide group is supported by the United Nations, and "Supreme Audit Institutions" are the labels for many central audit departments of countries in Europe and Asia. INTOSAI has websites and documents in all six of the official UN languages. Thus it is a limited, but good source for Arabic versions of English documents related to audit and corruption. SAI's are like the GAO in the US.
http://www.intosai.org/en/portal/
ASOSAI - INTOSAI has regional working groups, such as the ASOSAI for Asian Countries. Here is a link to an english guideline on understanding fraud and corruption on their website:
http://www.asosai.org/guidelines/guidelines1.htm
ARABOSAI - This is the Arabic regional Working Group of INTOSAI.
Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and their Official Development Assistance (ODA) Department - similar to USAID or DFID (UK) - provides Japan's foreign aid assistance to Africa, environmental issues, G* issues. A search of the MOFA english language website on the term of corruption located this 2005 ODA document on Prevention of Fraud & Corruption. MOFA was also the lead Japanese agency running the 2008 G8 Conference in Hokkaido in July. The G8 does NOT have its own website, but rotates meetings and conference management between member countries, and each country creates a year specific G8 website. This MOFA page on the 2008 G8 conference lists the websites for prior G8 conferences. Our search on "corruption" on the MOFA website only found single page statements from the 2005 and 2006 G8 conferences about Japan's anti-corruption plans related to foreign affairs (not much...).
Financial Stability Forum The Financial Stability Forum (FSF) brings together senior representatives of 26 national financial authorities (e.g. central banks, supervisory authorities and treasury departments), international financial institutions, international regulatory and supervisory groupings, committees of central bank experts and the European Central Bank. Mr Mario Draghi, Governor of the Banca d'Italia, chairs the FSF in a personal capacity. The FSF is serviced by a small secretariat housed at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland. Recently, the FSF gave a status report on worldwide financial markets to the G-8 Economic Conference. This site contains some information on standards to make country banks more stable, but I didn't find much related to corruption reduction.
Financial Action Task Force - Another international workgroup - The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF is therefore a "policy-making body" created in 1989 that works to generate the necessary political will to bring about legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas. The FATF has published 40 Recommendations in order to meet this objective plus they added another 9 Recommendations from the FSF . This would be a good source for actions to improve country banking systems to detect money laundering and terrorist financing, which some corruption proceeds in Iraq are used for.
Annual G8 Economic Summit Conference - This is an annual economic summit of 8 large countries plus a representative of the European Union. Chairmanship rotates each year, and they don't always talk about corruption issues. But, here is the website page of the French G8 2003 meeting where they issued a statement on corruption: "Fighting Corruption and Improving Transparency - A G8 Declaration"
UNITED NATIONS
UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (aka UNiraq or UNAMI ) - http://www.uniraq.org/ - This Iraq support mission was created in 2003, but then bombed in Iraq the same year. They moved out of Iraq to Amman, Jordan, where I think they still are. They mostly focus on humanitarian and reconstruction issues for Iraq, and also report on status of the DFI (Development Fund for Iraq) which contains over $100-billion taken from Iraq oil revenues and is slated for reconstruction. Not much here on corruption.
DFI - Development Fund for Iraq - The DFI was established pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483 and holds the proceeds of petroleum export sales from Iraq, as well as remaining balances from the UN Oil-for-Food Program and other frozen Iraqi funds. Disbursements from the DFI must be used for the benefit of the Iraqi people, and are directed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, in consultation with the Iraqi interim administration. The IAMB will continue to function after the dissolution of the Coalition Provisional Authority on June 30, 2004 and will work with the Interim Government of Iraq, as set out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1637 extended the mandate of the IAMB until December 31, 2006, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1723 extended the mandate of the IAMB until December 31, 2007 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1790 further extended the mandate of the IAMB until December 31, 2008.
The principal role of the IAMB is to help ensure that:
- The DFI is used in a transparent manner for the benefit of the people of Iraq, and
- Export sales of petroleum, petroleum products, and natural gas from Iraq are made consistent with prevailing international market best practices.
For this purpose, the IAMB functions akin to an audit oversight board. The IAMB issues periodic audit reports on DFI status and you can find the IAMB website, info on DFI and audit reports HERE. http://www.iamb.info/
ARAB Fund for Economic & Social Development (AFESD) - Based in Kuwait, this development fund is comprised of a membership of all the Arabic countries, including Iraq. The AFESD is an Arab regional financial institution, having an independent juridical personality. Its function is to assist the economic and social development of Arab countries through (1) financing development projects, with preference given to overall Arab development and to joint Arab projects; (2) encouraging the investment of private and public funds in Arab projects; and (3) providing technical assistance services for Arab economic and social development. They are also a member of the IAMB (above). They don't really explain who gets their development loans, but I assume some go to Iraq (but, since Iraq invaded Kuwait once, maybe not!)
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International Accounting Standards Board - based in London.
Issues the IFRS, or International Financial Reporting Standards. I have talked about the need for Iraq and other developing countries to switch from outmoded accounting systems and standards to international accounting standards. A major reason is that investors won't invest in governments or companies that use flaky accounting standards, PLUS international accounting standards would include audit and accounting controls to improve the accuracy and transparency of financial reporting. That would make corruption harder to hide.
I tried in 2004 and 2005 to get the State Dept. to make this a diplomatic negotiating issue with Iraq but they wouldn't even meet to discuss it. Iraq, in 2008, is still using the outmoded, Communist based, socialistic accounting system they used under Saddam.
In the US, we have GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, but now most countries and financial reporting standards are moving to IFRS, and it could replace GAAP in the future for US firms. It makes it easier for foreign investors if all countries follow the same standards for producing financial reports.
Russian (English Version) website for GAAP-IFRS.com - a Russian website providing FREE accounting technical books, news and information focused on various international professional standards (like accounting, audit, etc). I added it here as an example of what is needed for the Arabic world. It is quite hard to find International Accounting, Audit, Procurement and other professional reference works in the Arabic language. This Russian example provides a website in both English and Russian with many translated reference works. It seems to be a combined project of many Russian businesses. IFRS stands for International Financial Reporting Standards, and maybe it is supposed to support a move by Russian to IFRS and other international standards and away from strictly Russian standards.
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Anti-Corruption Agency , Malaysia
"Black list" on public procurement lead by US Government
www.epls.gov
British organization for the promotion of the rights "whistleblowers" Public concern at work
www.whistleblowing.org.uk
Brunei Darussalam Anti-corruption Bureau
www.anti-corruption.gov.bn
Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, Singapore
www.cpib.gov.sg
Directorate for Corruption and Economic Crime, Botswana
www.gov.bw/government/directorate_on_corruption_and_economic_crime.html
Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC), Hong-Kong - NOTE: This is one of the most successful anti-corruption agencies out there. The Iraq anti-corruption agency, CPI, was based upon this Hong Kong organization (as well as Singapore's)
www.icac.org.hk
www.gov.si/vrs/ang/government/Office-for-prevention-corruption.html
Office for the Prevention of Corruption, Slovenia
http://www.kpk-rs.si/
Swaziland Anti-Corruption Commission
www.icac.org.hk/newsl/issue7eng/button3.htm
Eric Uslaner's Book On Corruption and the Inequality Gap that Causes It
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS, AGENCIES AND MEDIA
Anti-Corruption Gateway for Europe and Eurasia
www.nobribes.org
Anti-Corruption Network for Transition Economies
www.anticorruptionnet.org
Anticorruption Online
www.anticorruption-online.org
Anti-corruption
Portal with major texts and links to the most important sources of
information about anti-corruption practice in Eastern Europe and ex
SSSR
www.nobribes.org
Anti-Corruption Ring Online (OECD Anticorruption Division 2002)
www1.oecd.org/error.htm
Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Anticorruption Site
www.adb.org/Integrity
Bulgarian project on promotion of accessibility of information
www.aip-bg.org/index_eng.htm
Center for International Private Enterprise Anti-Cooruption Program
www.cipe.org/programs/corruption/index.htm
Center for the Study of Corruption and the Rule of Law
http://public-integrity.org
Civil Association Public Barometer, Bulgaria
www.corruption-bg.org
Clean Hands (Corruption in Serbia and Montenegro and the Balkans)
www.beta.co.yu/korupcija/eng
CORIS Data base with more info on corruption and the fight against corruption
www.corisweb.org
Global Coalition for Africa
www.gca-cma.org/ecorrtion.htm
Global Forum on Fighting Corruption: Safeguarding Integrity Among Justice and Security Officials
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/econ/integrity/
Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO)
www.greco.coe.int
Integra Venture
www.integra.sk/corrupt.htm
Inter-American Anti-Corruption Network
www.oas.org/juridico/english/FightCur.html
Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
www.iadb.org
International Anti-Corruption Conference Series (IACC)
ww1.transparency.org/iacc
International Anticorruption Newsletter (ICAC, Hong Kong )
www.icac.org.hk/newsl/issue9eng/frame.htm
International Chamber of Commerce
www.iccwbo.org
Nathanson Center for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption, Toronto
www.yorku.ca/nathanson/default.htm
Network for help in anti-corruption capacity building
www.tiri.org
Network for promotion of NGO's there is a page dedicated to the fight against corruption
www.mans.cg.yu/korupcija.htm
Office of the Chief Counsel for International Commerce, Transparency And Anti-Bribery Initiatives
www.osec.doc.gov/ogc/occic/tabi.html
Paris Declaration
www.parisdeclaration.org
Portal dedicated to fight against corruption in Bulgaria
www.anticorruption.bg/index_eng.php
Respondanet
www.respondanet.com/english/index.htm
Rumanian Centre for Research Journalism
www.crji.org/e_index.htm
Southeast European Legal Development Initiative (SELDI)
www.seldi.net
Stability Pact Anti-Corruption Initiative for South Eastern Europe
www.spai-rslo.org
The European Ombudsman Homepage
www.euro-ombudsman.eu.int/home/en/default.htm
The OECD Anti-Corruption Division
www.oecd.org
The Utstein Anti-Corruption Resource Centre
www.u4.no
The World Bank Anticorruption
www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/anticorrupt/
The World Bank Governance and Anti-Corruption Resources
www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/
TI Global Corruption Report 2003 - an older report from Transparency International - you can buy their annual global corruption reports on Amazon.com.
www.globalcorruptionreport.org
TI Internet Center for Corruption Research
http://wwwuser.gwdg.de
Transnational Crime and Corruption Center
www.american.edu/traccc/
Transparency International - This is the grand kajuna of anti-corruption sites
www.transparency.org
United Nations Global Programme Against Corruption
www.unicri.it
United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, Corruption Page
www.undcp.org
USAID Anti-Corruption Resources
www.usaid.gov/democracy/anticorruption/
World Movement for Democracy
www.wmd.org
Whistleblower Law Firm - Loevy & Loevy - we focus mostly on Iraq and non-US anti-corruption issues here, but if you are in a situation to see evidence regarding bribes or fraud or corruption in the US Federal or State governments, then you might read these webpages for factors that can lead to justifying a whistleblower lawsuit. What is funny is that if you go to SIGIR's website at SIGIR.com, you will find a google ad from this firm...
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