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Opinion / Commentary
Move against graft
(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-19 07:22
The initiative jointly launched by the World Bank and United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime on Monday to help developing countries recover
assets stolen by corrupt officials is a sign that the UN convention
against corruption, which took effect nearly two years ago, is being
turned into concrete action.
Corrupt officials fleeing abroad with stolen proceeds have been a
headache for many developing countries. And the phenomenon is becoming an
issue of international concern. The cross-border flow of the global
proceeds from criminal activities, corruption, and tax evasion are
estimated at between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion per year, according to
a UN document.
Several hundred corrupt officials have fled abroad with stolen assets in
the past decades in China alone. Efforts by the public security
departments have repatriated some along with their ill-gotten gains, but
most are still at large because of lack of cooperation between developing
countries and their developed counterparts.
Loopholes in corruption prevention in developing countries are
undoubtedly to blame for so many to be able to embezzle public funds or
take bribes and then flee abroad. The transition from a planned economy
to a market one in countries like China is not only where the two
economic systems are supposed to meet, but where corruption is most
likely to occur.
It goes without saying that developing countries must make every effort
to plug these loopholes by establishing effective supervisory and
monitoring mechanisms.
But on the other side of the coin is the fact that some Western countries
turn out to be a haven where corrupt officials can expect to put their
looted assets into banks and even invest in businesses.
It is an irony that thieves who have stolen public money can lead a
luxurious life in developed countries where the rule of law is supposed
to be much more well-developed than in the developing countries they
escape from.
It is a slap in the face for our flawed civilization in both the
materialistic and spiritual sense.
The UN initiative known as StAr (Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative) is a
step in the right direction to address the issue. If, as UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says, this initiative can foster
cooperation between developing and developed countries, a great progress
will be expected in bringing corrupt officials to justice and recovering
the assets they have stolen.
Cooperation from developed countries is essential in not only helping
catch escaped corrupt officials and the return of their looted assets,
but also deny a shelter for more corrupt officials and their looted
proceeds.
(China Daily 09/19/2007 page10)
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