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)

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Source: Voice of America

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