Africa, Europe, Headlines

CORRUPTION: Whistleblowers Recognised At Last

Sanjay Suri

LONDON, Oct 9 2004 (IPS) - The whistleblowers in a major Kenyan corruption scandal were presented the Transparency International Integrity Awards in Nairobi Saturday.

A former official from Bosnia was among other winners. The annual awards are instituted by Transparency International (TI), a non-governmental organisation campaigning against corruption worldwide.

The Kenyan award was presented over what came to be known as the Goldenberg scandal. ”That scandal had continued for some time but it came to light in 1992,” Anne Mutugi from TI Kenya told IPS on phone from Nairobi.

The TI awards were presented to constable Naftali Lagat and to former clerk at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), David Munyakei.

Munyakei noticed that a company called Goldenberg International ”was receiving unusually large sums of money for the alleged export of gold and diamonds,” TI said in a note on the awards. ”He blew the whistle on the Goldenberg scandal by providing CBK documents to opposition members of parliament.”

These documents, TI said, revealed illegal transactions between the Central Bank and Goldenberg International. ”The courage to disclose these corrupt practices resulted in Munyakei’s arrest, sacking, and possibly the loss of his only parent,” it said.

Constable Lagat was described by TI as ”one of the police officers on duty at the airport one night in 1991 when a director of Goldenberg International arrived, carrying a suitcase full of gold.”

Lagat refused orders relating to this consignment from senior officials whom he suspected of trying to cover up illegal actions, TI said. ”Even after he was forced to appear before the Criminal Investigations Department the constable did not budge, refusing to give in to corrupt officials as he felt that he would be breaking the rules.”

Acts of corruption like this one owe their exposure to the courage and integrity of only a few individuals such as Lagat and Munyakei, TI Kenya’s executive director Gladwell Otieno said in a statement. ”The TI Integrity Awards recognise that – perhaps even more important than laws administered from the top – ultimately it is individuals adhering to their principles and fighting against corruption that will turn the tide in Kenya.”

The scandal led to a judicial inquiry. ”The inquiry into the case is ongoing,” Mutugi told IPS. There is no indication yet when it will be completed, she said.

Dr Milica Bisic who took on tax evaders in Republika Srpska was one of the other winners of the award at the TI awards event in Nairobi. Republika Srpska is the Serbian entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a Croat-Muslim grouping as the other.

Dr Milica Bisic, former head of tax administration in Republika Srpska found that after years of a devastating war, ”the tax administration was among those institutions where corruption was the most rampant,” TI said. ”For the first time, the process of forcible collection of taxes was applied to large businesses,” TI said. ”Many have since been charged with tax evasion and have closed down.”

TI, which has its global office in Berlin, says the annual award event ”recognises the courage of extraordinary individuals and organisations who have made a significant impact on reducing levels of corruption.”

The TI Integrity Awards selection committee is composed of leading anti- corruption activists from around the world, including TI Integrity Award 2001 winner Eva Joly, an investigating magistrate in the Elf-Aquitaine oil corruption case in France. This year the committee received valid nominations from more than 30 countries and every continent, TI said.

Chairman Peter Eigen said at the ceremony Friday that the African Union has estimated that corruption costs Africa alone in excess of 148 billion dollars a year. ”This is not money that goes to build schools and hospitals but goes to make the corrupt richer, and robs the poor of essential services.”

This year’s winners, he said, ”are a source of inspiration to all of us as they have gone above and beyond their sense of duty to ensure that the corrupt have no one to bribe and nowhere to hide.”

Three individuals were recognised posthumously for taking a stand against corruption.

Hasan Balikçi, an engineer with the state-owned Turkey Electric Distribution A.S. (TEDAS) was murdered in October 2002 after ”rooting out those responsible for stealing billions of dollars from this important national utility,” TI said. Satyendra Kumar Dubey, former deputy general manager of the National Highway Authority in India, was killed Nov. 27 last year after his name was leaked in connection with a complaint about corruption he had sent to the prime minister’s office.

Manik Chandra Saha, a journalist and social activist in Bangladesh, frequently reported on crime and political corruption for the New Age newspaper and for the BBC Bengali service. He was killed in a bomb attack on Jan. 15 this year.