In his address to the 19th Conference of the CBI and State Anti-Corruption Bureaus, the Prime Minister tried to uncover the layers of corruption and graft seething into the organs of society. Calling this a big challenge faced by the anti-corruption agencies, he warned that it would be difficult for the investigators to reach the right conclusions without a firm grasp of the complexities involved in the formulation and implementation of economic policy of the state. It is a fact, though unfortunate one, that while during past two decades the country has seen enviable economic growth, it has also met with the curse of equal growth in practices of corruption and graft. The Prime Minister explained this phenomenon in technical terminology that today, different sectors of our economy follow development models that are increasingly becoming more and more sophisticated. As our economy grows and becomes more integrated with the global economy, the big challenge before the anti-corruption agencies is to keep pace with these developments.
Obviously alleged mega graft cases that raked the country and the Government in recent years, like 2G Spectrum allocation, Commonwealth Games and the allotment of coal blocks have disquieted him. It has done much harm to the fair name of the nation. The crux of Prime Minister’s address was that there was the need of bringing reforms in the existing laws so as to make investigation more realistic and result-oriented. This is what he meant by saying that “big ticket” graft involving commercial entities would be addressed through changes in the law while ensuring protection to honest public servants in a better way’. Convinced that the big ticket corruption was mostly related to operations by commercial entities, the Prime Minister has come to the conclusion that he would propose to include corporate failure to prevent bribery as a new offence on the supply side. Thus, in all probability, there would be in near future some sort of legislation that would also take into cognizance the supply side of graft in the case of commercial entities.
In fact, the Prime Minister has much larger canvas of tackling corruption from administrative point of view. He said amendments are being considered to the Prevention of Corruption Act, not only in view of the judicial rulings on its provisions, “but also with the purpose of filling certain gaps” in the legislation and bringing in line with international practices. In his opinion “institutions established with special focus on economic offences should perhaps be more broad-based and need not be confined only to persons with policing background. An open mind in this regard could help imparting credibility to investigations and securing high conviction rates”. Read in the background of many an eyebrow raised by the civil society and sometimes even the judiciary as well on the functioning of CBI, the indication is that there could be a suggestion of institutional reform in the investigating agency. The faster economic growth and new areas of economic activities have, in turn, led to newer opportunities for corruption. This becomes a compulsion for the investigating agencies to regularly upgrade their skills and techniques of investigation that would match the type of new corruption. He even advised CBI and other anti-corruption agencies to engage professionals who have expertise which can assist them in conducting an impartial inquiry in complex cases. He has also touched upon a vital aspect of precise definition of “corruption”. In his opinion not only the one who took bribe but the one who offered it was equally committing a crime and should be brought to book.
Discussing key anti-graft measures initiated by his Government in recent days, the PM noted that the Government has put in place an institutional architecture to facilitate cash transfers of Government social welfare measures directly to bank accounts of individual beneficiaries. Referring to the two-decade-old economic reforms, the Prime Minister said it had reduced the “old forms of corrupt practices associated with the controls and the licence-permit raj”.
An important aspect of anti-corruption crusade that appears to have surfaced in the course of conduct of investigation in alleged cases of graft was to find adequate mechanism which would protect innocent persons from being implicated and demonized. The Prime Minister seemed much concerned about this aspect. Reiterating the Government’s commitment to fighting corruption, he also stressed on the need of protecting honest public servants and keeping the morale of the executive intact. Even while the corrupt were relentlessly pursued and brought to book, the innocent should not be harassed. The PM made this remark knowing that there were cases of implicating innocent officials in graft cases as a matter of personal vendetta or as the demonstration of authority which is misuse of power.
The redeeming part of PM’s address is his message that mindless negativity is not going to help overcome the crisis. We have not to be pessimists as that would wrest the initiative of reforming the laws and correcting things where these have gone wrong. “Mindless atmosphere of negativity and pessimism that is sought to be created over the issue of corruption can do us no good. It can only damage the nation’s image and hit the morale of the executive,” the Prime Minister told the nation.
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