Private Sector And Anti-Corruption Drive

Dhana Bahadur Mijar

Most of the people in general regard giving and/or accepting a bribe as corruption. In fact, it only is not true. Corruption is very comprehensive in term itself that covers many malpractices like fraud, embezzlement of public funds, misuse of public power for private gains, illegal political party funding, extortion, delaying work with expectation of bribe by the public servant etc. DefinitionIn terms of giving definitions, various organizations and prominent personalities have defined corruption like: World Bank has said "The abuse of public office for private gain." Similarly, as quoted by UNDP in Fighting against Corruption to Improve Governance, 1999, "Corruption is the misuse of public power or authority for private benefits-through bribery, extortion, influence peddling, nepotism, speed money or embezzlement."

Likewise, Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General has mentioned in the issues of corruption as definition like this:-"Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of coercive effects on societies. It undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violation of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of life and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security to flourish." If we consider the above mentioned definition everybody can conclude that corruption erodes the value system and inflicts damage on all the sectors like social, political, financial etc. It also violates human rights. It is also worth mentioning here that a meeting of the world's nine economists including 4 Nobel laureates held in Copenhagen listed corruption as one of the 10 major problems of the world. According to them the first problem facing mankind was malnutrition and hunger, the second was contagious diseases with corruption being ranked third. They also warned that if anti-corruption movement is not launched seriously, the lives of people in most of nations would be uncontrollably ruined. Corruption and Ethics are closely related. A country where the majority of the people are indifferent to unethical and unpatriotic practices cannot be expected to have a harmonious development.

The United Nations has clearly visualized this fact. Hence, on December 9, 2003, to initiate the anti-corruption movement effectively, it made a declaration of Convention on Anti-Corruption. All member nations were called to sign the Declaration. Till date, more than 40 nations have done so. Nepal is also the signatory to the Declaration, but has yet to be pass the relevant law, rules and regulations.The number of agencies both in the government sector and private sector are active in the Anti-Corruption Movement in Nepal. Some of the prominent among them are the CIAA, National Vigilance Centre, Centre for Revenue Investigation, Office of the Auditor General etc. from the government side and likewise Transparency Interna-tional, Civil Society, Consumer's Forum, Press Media, Pro Public, ReMAC, SWATI and a number of NGO and INGOs are involved in anti-corruption camp-aign. They basically direct their effort towards dissemination of information and creating awareness as regards the anti-corruption movement. They have been functioning as strong pressure groups.Regarding all of these activities, FNCCI as an umbrella organization of 90 per cent of the private sector of Nepal has established Corporate Ethics Forum / Anti-Corruption Project to help for fighting against corruption. Basically, it has focused its activities on the private sector which is being often blamed as the bulk source for bribes. It operates on the belief that initiation on anti-corruption activities begins with a sense of social responsibility and that could be expected to minimize corruption in country.

The main goals of all the partners in the anti-corruption movement are to work for good governance, strive for a corruption free society and promote a clean and healthy business environment. FNCCI as an apex body of the industrial and business organization in the country has taken upon itself the responsibility to do away with corruption and unethical business behavior from within its ranks. Towards this end, a series of activities with far reaching consequences have been undertaken as well. AchievementHaving commenced since January 1, 2004 it phased out on March 31, 2006. Within the 27 month duration of its project, it has basically drafted 18 point business code of conduct (BCC) and passed by the 38th Annual General Meeting of FNCCI. Then Complaint Hearing Unit (CHU) has been established and its regulation "Complaint Hearing Unit Regulation-2062" has been enforced. This project had launched nearly 60 awareness programmes like Code of Conduct Orientation, CHU orientation and other anti-corruption awareness creating programmes. It may be a brick for supporting the business community to be clean of the blame of bulk source of bribe.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 29, 2007