XXVVXIV, December 2017 “Tax avoidance is denying money for services and development. This is a system that is fault. We need more transparency” – Winnie Byanyima Contact Us: 4-C Mezzanine Floor, Khayaban-e-Itehad Phase VII, DHA Karachi. Phone: 92-21-35390408 Fax: 92-21-35390410 XXVVXIV, DEC 2017 Editorial 2 3 5 7 How Strong are Anti-Corruption Agencies in Asia Pacific? With the close of this quarter, Anti- Fraud Hotline (AFH) enters its 8 th year of successful operation. Transparency International Pakistan organized workshops to enhance capacity of CSOs on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 “Corruption is an insidious plague that has corrosive effects on societies.” – Kofi Anan TI Pakistan‟s Activities: TI Pakistan is empowering youth to fight corruption, raise their voice against corrupt practices and hold government accountable TI Pakistan conducted Citizen Report Card Study to evaluate performance of Local Government in district Jaffarabad, Balochistan. 6
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TI Pakistan‟s Activities · Balochistan events were organized in Kallat, Jaffarabad, and Pishin; and in KPK walks and seminars were arranged in Mardan, Nowshera, and Peshawar. A
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XXVVXIV, December 2017
“Tax avoidance is denying money for services and development. This is a system that is
fault. We need more transparency” – Winnie Byanyima
Contact Us:
4-C Mezzanine Floor, Khayaban-e-Itehad
Phase VII, DHA Karachi. Phone: 92-21-35390408
Fax: 92-21-35390410
XXVVXIV, DEC 2017
Editorial
2
3
5
7
How Strong are Anti-Corruption Agencies in Asia Pacific?
With the close of this quarter, Anti-Fraud Hotline (AFH) enters its 8th year of successful operation.
Transparency International Pakistan organized workshops to enhance capacity of CSOs on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16
“Corruption is an insidious plague that has corrosive effects on societies.” – Kofi Anan
TI Pakistan‟s Activities:
TI Pakistan is empowering youth to fight corruption, raise their voice against corrupt practices and hold government accountable
TI Pakistan conducted Citizen Report Card Study to evaluate performance of Local Government in district Jaffarabad, Balochistan.
6
XXVVXIV, December 2017
2
The Anti – Corruption Agencies
(ACA‟s) are permanent bodies
that exist outside of government„s
influence. The report titled „Anti-
Corruption Agencies
Strengthening Initiative‟ is a study
and review of seven countries
from the Asia Pacific including
Pakistan.
Published by Transparency
international, the report reveals
some of the facts and several
harsh realities about Anti-
corruption Agencies of selected
countries in Asia Pacific. The
United Nations Convention
against Corruption (UNCAC) 2003
explains the ACA as “it is
independent body/bodies within
national governance systems are
required to promote and enforce anti-corruption policies and
practices”. The report endeavored
to assess strengths and weakness of
Anti-Corruption Agencies‟ based on
the selected indicators:
The first indicator Legal
Independence and Status
highlights that in most of the Asia
Pacific countries; the appointment
of the head of ACA‟s is not
transparent as the method of
appointment adopted by the
concerned authorities‟ is
inappropriate , lack transparency,
and is politically influenced.
Moreover, with reference to
Pakistan, this important task is
always delayed by the political
dissidence among political parties.
The second indicator examines the
Financial and Human Resources
aspect. Despite having the highest
Strengthening Anti-Corruption Agencies Initiative
The fourth and fifth indicators are prevention, education and
outreach. Pakistan has scored the lowest i.e 56 points among its
regional peers. The performance of NAB rated below average,
while Bhutan ranked high in this regard. Similarly, public
confidence in ACA‟s is another crucial factor to gauge the
progress of ACA‟s. Pakistan scored 50 point, which is the lowest
among the countries included in this study.
The study also points towards inadequate mechanism for
accountability and oversight. For instance, there is no external or
internal accountability mechanism for monitoring and
assessment, NAB only submits an annual report to the president
of the country.
To bring improvement in ACAs performance, Transparency
International has proposed recommendations which focus on
three key zones; to work independently without any pressure,
increase public accountability and trust and last of all to
construct institutional capacity to implement the ACA‟s
mandate.
budget of $27.4 million in 2015-16,
achievements of NAB remained
unsatisfactory, insignificant and
below the mark. While the human
resource department illustrates that
many ACAs lack professional and
technical experts in relevant field
which acts as a great hindrance.
The third indicator Detection and
Investigation relates to detection
and identification of corruption,
thereafter, investigation of it. The
performance of Pakistan‟s National
Accountability Bureau (NAB) on
this indicator is moderate. In last
three years, NAB collected
complaints from 300 to 800, which
is relatively satisfactory. Overall,
the populace to complaint ratio is
diminishing. Moreover, in this
regard, the performance of ACA‟s
in Asia Pacific is unsatisfactory.
Editor: Ms. Faizah Mubarak. Cartoonist: Mr. Zahid Gara
XXVVXIV, December 2017
3
With the close of this quarter,
Anti-Fraud Hotline (AFH) enters
its 8th year of operations. In this
quarter AFH received complaints
from across the country regarding
fraud and corruption in various
USAID funded projects. These
complaints carry critical
information regarding issues in
the implementation of USAID
funded projects. Issues are
primarily divided into categories
such as solicitation of bribe, favors
and kickbacks or service delivery
issue, theft of USAID funded
goods, PPRA violations or
procurement frauds. The
concentration of complaints
related to service delivery issues
remained high, and a few
complaints related to bribery and
theft were also reported to OIG in
this quarter. In addition,
complaints against administrative
problems in the project
implementation were also
reported related to conflict of
interest, embezzlement as well as
improper hiring, whereas
complaints that might indicate
PPRA violation or procurement
fraud did not surface.
AFH also receives complaints that
may not have a USAID nexus to
them, but are related to projects
that are funded by national and
international agencies and NGO‟s.
In these instances, AFH refers
them to respective organizations,
with which OIG has signed a
Memorandum of Understanding.
This quarter, AFH handled 2800 calls, and as a result 117 complaints were
registered. Since its inception, AFH has effectively handled
over 92,000 calls
Complaints that are solely related to Pakistan and do not involve funding of international donors are referred to TI
Pakistan‟s Advocacy and Legal Advice Center (ALAC).
AFH management continued to ensure that the complaints are formulated with utmost professionalism. AFH‟s
multilingual complaint officers, who have gained considerable experience over the passage of project tenure, are
well equipped in keeping the flow of communication with the complainants open and follow ups to get as much
information as possible. AFH complaint officers adhere to the guidelines provided by OIG as to the information
necessary for successful complaint launch, which ultimately supplements the investigative efforts of OIG.
The Hotline remained the primary source of complaint generation, whereas other contact mediums such as emails,
sms, whatsapp also contributed a fair share in this process. Complaints received from various mediums are dealt
with strict confidentiality. Analysis and progress is communicated to USAID/ OIG on weekly and quarterly basis.
This helps in project‟s operational efficiency and outcome.
This quarter AFH received over 2800 calls, and as a result 117 complaints were registered. Since its inception in
January 2011, AFH has effectively handled over 92,000 calls. This huge volume has resulted in the registration of
approx. 8,000 complaints. These figures reflect AFH‟s operational efficacy. The uploaded complaints have played a
pivotal role in assisting OIG in its investigations.