| Corruption Proves a
Horse too Wily to Break
By Zarina Geloo
Corruption is proving too canny to tame largely because of
loopholes in national laws, activists here say. Government
officials bent on lining their own pockets can do so with
virtual impunity and a new strategy is urgently needed to
tackle the problem, they add.
"We need to change tack because we are losing the battle
against corruption," an exasperated Gopal Siwakoti Chintan
told a seminar on corruption and governance.
Chintin says there are too many loopholes in national laws,
which allow corruption to go on unchecked.
Recounting how he was given the run around by the Nepalese
government, the activist on water issues said he questioned
a World Bank project which would take away the use of a river
in a remote village in Nepal and put it in the hands of an
Italian multinational which was doing "some water development"
in the area. The company said it would not be responsible
if anything went wrong with the project.
After failing to get information on the agreement signed
between the World Bank and the government, he petitioned the
court. The government rounded on him saying to the contrary,
there was no agreement signed and therefore had no information
to give. The court then chastised Chintan for causing “undue
paper work” and said it "would look unkindly on
him" should he decide to take similar action in the future.
"The government probably reneged on the agreement, or
deferred it to a later date, but the fact is we were denied
information on which to base any mobilisation campaign."
He also discovered that Nepal had no jurisdiction over foreign
companies operating within the country, that the International
Labour Organisation (ILO) could not take the case because
it was an Italian firm, and that Italy would not accept the
case because the company doing the “water development”
is registered as an international firm.
Jeanette Chávez, a Peruvian researcher, had a similar
story to tell. The International Finance Centre (IFC) of the
World Bank owns 5 percent of a mining conglomerate, which
wants to expand its operations to incorporate a Peruvian village's
only source of drinking water. The municipality rejected this
expansion and the mining firm is suing the local government
saying they have the right to expand.
They probably do have that right Chávez says, because
most agreements with multinationals have a BOOT (buy, occupy,
own, transfer) codicil in their contracts, which allows them
carte blanche in any country of operation, after having lined
the pockets of government.
"There is even a contradiction with IMF World Bank policy
here, which insists on the decentralisation of decision making.
The Bank is contradicting itself by disregarding the vote
of the Municipal Council."
Dr. Alejandro Bendaña from the Centro de Estudios
Internacionales said the way to fight such corruption is to
gather hard data with a view to going to court.
"We should not go the way of Transparency International
which merely lists areas where corruption is rife, we should
do something about it, based on facts."
He said also that NGOs must look at how they can help their
governments stand up to multinational companies. "Can
you imagine what would happen to a small country like Nepal
if it decided to reject a World Bank-sponsored project. It
would be maimed."
Stiaan Van de Merwe from South Africa Jubilee said a network
of NGOs working on corruption should be formed where information
could be accessed. People needed to be more aware of where
corruption was happening and likely to happen so as to lend
weight to national anti-corruption groups. The media also
needed to be trained in conceptualising corruption because
they would be the whistleblowers, he said.
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