DATE=12/24/97 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT NUMBER=5-38547 TITLE=YEARENDER:FIGHTING CORRUPTION '97 BYLINE=FRANK RONALDS DATELINE=WASHINGTON CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: 1997 SAW SOME BIG STEPS FORWARD IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION. THE ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, WHICH INCLUDES MOST OF THE WORLD'S ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES, SIGNED A DECEMBER CONVENTION TO OUTLAW BRIBERY OF FOREIGN OFFICIALS. CORRESPONDENT FRANK RONALDS REPORTS PROGRESS WAS ALSO MADE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. TEXT: TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL HAS LED THE EFFORT TO OUTLAW TRANSNATIONAL BRIBERY. IT WAS ESTABLISHED IN BERLIN FIVE-YEARS AGO BY CHAIRMAN PETER EIGEN. WHILE WORKING FOR THE WORLD BANK IN LATIN AMERICA AND EAST AFRICA, MR. EIGEN BECAME DISCOURAGED BY THE ECONOMIC DEVASTATION CAUSED BY WIDESPREAD CORRUPTION -- CAUSED IN PART BY COMPANIES BRIBING OFFICIALS OF THIRD-WORLD NATIONS. HE SAYS SINCE THEN, THE WORLD BANK HAS JOINED IN THIS EFFORT TO STAMP OUT CORRUPTION /// 1ST EIGEN ACT /// LOOKING BACK AT THIS YEAR, THE REAL BREAKTHROUGH WAS OF COURSE THE CONSENSUS THAT LED THE MEMBERS OF THE O-E-C-D, WHICH ARE BASICALLY THE RICH COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD, TO AGREE ON THE TEXT OF A CONVENTION WHICH WAS SIGNED LAST WEEK IN PARIS. THE CONVENTION AIMS AT CRIMINALIZING INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION. BECAUSE IN MANY COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD THE CORRUPTION OF FOREIGNERS IS NOT FORBIDDEN UNDER DOMESTIC LAWS. ONLY THE UNITED STATES HAS THE FOREIGN CORRUPTION PRACTICES ACT, WHICH MAKES IT ILLEGAL FOR AN AMERICAN TO BRIBE FOREIGNERS. NOW THE CRIMINALIZATION OF FOREIGN BRIBERY IS THEREFORE A MAJOR STEP FORWARD. /// END ACT /// PETER EIGEN SAYS THAT THERE ARE TWO DIMENSIONS TO THE WORK OF TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL // 2ND EIGEN ACT // ONE HAS TO DO WITH TRYING TO STOP THE SOURCE OF CORRUPTION, WHICH LIES IN THE NORTH, IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES. THE OTHER ONE IS TO HELP THE PEOPLE IN THE SOUTH, OR IN THE EAST, AND THE COUNTRIES OF TRANSFORMATION, TO STRENGTHEN THEIR CAPACITY TO CONTROL CORRUPTION. // END ACT // TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL IS LINKED TO NATIONAL CHAPTERS IN COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE -- IN ARGENTINA THE CHAPTER HAS 20-THOUSAND MEMBERS. TO GUIDE THEIR WORK, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL PUTS OUT A SOURCE BOOK WHICH HAS BEEN TRANSLATED INTO CHINESE, ARABIC, RUSSIAN, FRENCH, SPANISH, AND OTHER LANGUAGES. MR. EIGEN SAYS THE INTEREST IN THE NATIONS MAKING THE TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY AND MARKET ECONOMIES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE IS ALMOST OVERWHELMING. THERE, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL CHAPTERS HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE. // 3RD EIGEN ACT // QUITE A NUMBER OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ARE MEMBERS THERE. THEY ARE IN THE PROCESS OF DRAFTING INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATION AGAINST CORRUPTION. IT IS VERY INTERESTING TO NOTE HOW MUCH THE PEOPLE IN THESE COUNTRIES ARE RECOGNIZING THAT CORRUPTION OF THEIR ELITES IS BASICALLY DESTROYING THE OPENING UP OF THEIR ECONOMIES, OF THEIR DEMOCRACIES. THEREFORE WE FIND NOT ONLY VERY STRONG GRASS ROOTS MOVEMENTS IN THESE COUNTRIES, BUT ALSO A NUMBER OF VERY POWERFUL POLITICIANS AND CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS THAT ARE MAKING THIS ONE OF THEIR MOST IMMEDIATE CONCERNS. // END ACT // PROGRESS HAS ALSO BEEN STEADY IN LATIN AMERICA. IN SEPTEMBER, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL SET UP AN ANTI-CORRUPTION CONFERENCE IN LIMA, PERU, WHICH DREW ABOUT ONE-THOUSAND HIGH-LEVEL PARTICIPANTS. MR. EIGEN HOPES BY THE NEXT SUMMIT OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES, SET FOR MARCH OF 1998 IN SANTIAGO, CHILE, VIRTUALLY ALL THE MEMBER STATES WILL HAVE RATIFIED THE INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION. HE SAYS AS A RESULT OF FINANCIAL TURMOIL IN ASIA, MANY MORE PEOPLE THERE RECOGNIZE THE DAMAGE CORRUPTION HAS BROUGHT TO THEIR SOCIETIES. // 4TH EIGEN ACT // ONE OF THE PROBLEMS IN ASIA IS THAT THERE ARE A NUMBER OF COUNTRIES THAT ARE QUITE OPENLY CORRUPT. AND YET THEY HAVE BEEN DOING QUITE WELL, IN TERMS OF GROWTH, IN TERMS OF ECONOMIC PROSPERITY. AND THERE HAVE BEEN QUITE A NUMBER OF OBSERVERS WHO HAVE SAID, 'LOOK, CORRUPTION MAY NOT BE SO BAD FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.' NOW THE RECENT CRISIS IN ASIA HAS SOMEHOW PULLED THE RUG FROM UNDER THIS ARGUMENT. IN FACT, THERE ARE NOW QUITE A NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO SAY IT IS THE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY, THE LACK OF OPENNESS, IN SOME OF THESE ECONOMIES WHICH HAS ALLOWED A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF DISTORTION TO CREEP INTO THE ECONOMIC SITUATION., AND THEREFORE ONE OF THE INGREDIENTS OF THE SOLUTION FOR ASIA HAS TO BE A HIGHER DEGREE OF TRANSPARENCY. // END ACT // TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL HOPES TO KEEP UP THE MOMENTUM. ESPECIALLY IN THE CASE OF THE O-E-C-D CONVENTION. MR. EIGEN SAYS THE AGREEMENT WILL NOT BECOME REALITY UNTIL INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES FORMULATE NATIONAL LAWS WHICH WILL OBLIGATE EXPORTERS TO CARRY OUT CONVENTION COMMITMENTS OR SUFFER FINANCIAL AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES. (SIGNED) NEB/RAE 24-Dec-97 11:42 AM EST (1642 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .