The fight against corruption is a developmental imperative. While international efforts have achieved some significant results, they also illustrate the extent of the challenges that remain. A key lesson of experience is that tackling corruption needs to be waged simultaneously on two fronts: prevention and enforcement. Both approaches are complementary and self-reinforcing. The vast scale of illicit financial flows from the proceeds of corruption and the challenges associated with national and international asset recovery efforts call, in particular, for significant investments in prevention and a broadening of prevention tools. Income and asset disclosure (IAD) systems are gaining prominence as a tool in the fight against corruption, and have the potential to support efforts in both prevention and enforcement. This contribution is recognized in the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and other international anticorruption agreements. Chapter one of this guides provides an overview of the objectives of IAD systems...

The World Bank support for public sector reform has grown notably in recent years. To address the questions of what is working and why in this area, the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) has examined Bank lending and other support for public sector reform in four areas: public financial management, administrative and civil service, revenue administration, and anticorruption and transparency. A majority of countries that borrowed to support public sector reform improved their performance in some dimensions, but there were shortcomings in important aspects. Middle-income borrowers saw improvements in their public sector quality more frequently than low-income borrowers, even though the low-income group usually had greater needs for public sector improvement. Performance usually improved for public financial management, tax administration, and transparency, but not for civil service. Direct measures to reduce corruption, such as anticorruption laws and commissions, rarely succeeded, as they often lacked the necessary support from political elites and the judicial system.

his volume provides advice on how to institutionalize performance-based accountability, especially in countries that lack good accountability systems. The volume describes how institutions of accountability may be strengthened to combat corruption. The volume is organized into two parts. The first part deals with public management reforms to ensure the integrity and improve the efficiency of government operations. It outlines an agenda for public management reforms and discusses the roles of e-government and network solutions in performance improvements. The second part of the volume provides advice on strengthening the role of representative institutions, such as organs and committees of parliament, in providing oversight of government programs. It also provides guidance on how auditing and related institutions can be used to detect fraud and corruption. The book highlights the causes of corruption and the use of both internal and external accountability institutions and mechanisms to fight it. It provides advice on how to tailor anticorruption programs to individual country circumstances and how to sequence reform efforts to ensure sustainability. This volume presents the latest thinking of leading development scholars on operationalizing such a governance framework. The focus of this volume is creating performance-based accountability and oversight when there is no bottom line. Each chapter addresses an important dimension of such a framework. The four chapters in part I are concerned with integrity and efficiency in public management. The nine chapters of part II are concerned with institutions and mechanisms to hold government to account.

There is no room for complacency, however. Corruption is not falling in all countries or all sectors, and even the most successful reformers still tend to have higher levels of firm-level corruption than in Western Europe. The burden weighs most heavily on the new private firms that are the engine of growth and employment in the region. And even in countries that are showing success, the gains are not irreversible. Leaders need to continue to open their economic and political systems to greater competition, foster transparency and accountability in the public sector, and reduce administrative and regulatory burdens for firms.

Although attention has focused on public sector initiatives to fight corruption on the demand side, private companies in every region have developed programs to fight it on the supply side. Policymakers and advocacy groups-such as Transparency International-consider such preventive efforts to be a critical component of the anticorruption toolkit. All types of firms-large and small, multinational and local-recognize that corruption raises the cost of doing business and should be prevented. Most company anticorruption programs rely on compliance systems that consist of a company code of conduct, training, and decisionmaking and reporting mechanisms. This self regulatory approach was pioneered in the 1970s by U.S. multinational corporations after unethical practices were revealed and in response to the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Until recently this approach was greeted with skepticism outside the United States. Critics argued that efforts to implement U.S. compliance-based techniques would fail in other business cultures. Skeptics also questioned the effectiveness of company anticorruption programs. But such views have changed considerably in recent years...

Over the past several years, to improve development outcomes, the Bank has developed new and more effective tools and approaches for dealing with governance and anticorruption (GAC) issues at the country, sector, and project levels. At the same time, the Bank has increased its focus on fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS), as reflected in the 2011 World Development Report (WDR): conflict, security, and development. Helping these countries achieve their development objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), is a critical part of the Bank s mission to reduce poverty. On a parallel track, the Bank is working to strengthen its support to the FCS. The approach includes both near-term policy and procedural changes to improve the Bank s operational effectiveness, and the preparation of a more comprehensive strategy for longer-term engagement, building on the analysis and recommendations of the 2011 WDR. In attempting to integrate the GAC and FCS agendas, it is clear that we have much to learn. For example...

The requirement that public officials declare their income and assets can help deter the use of public office for private gain. Income and asset disclosure (IAD) systems can provide a means to detect and manage potential conflicts of interest, and can assist in the prevention, detection, and prosecution of illicit enrichment by public officials. Growing attention to anticorruption policies, institutions, and practices has led to increased interest in financial disclosure systems and the role they can play in supporting national anticorruption strategies and in helping to instill an expectation of ethical conduct for individuals in public office. IAD systems are also a key element in the implementation and enforcement of provisions of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and other international anticorruption agreements. This attention has sparked interest among policy makers and practitioners in the design features and implementation practices that make for effective financial disclosure administration. The case studies collected in this volume are intended to profile a range of systems and practices to help respond to this growing interest.

Controlling corruption is an essential part of good governance, and poverty reduction, and it poses an enormous challenge for governments around the world. This report analyzes patterns, and trends in corruption in business-government interactions in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. It points to some encouraging signs that the magnitude, and negative impact that corruption exerts on business, may be declining in many countries in the region. It also shows how some types of firms - most notably small private ones - encounter more corruption than others, and it underscores the importance of policy, and institutional reforms in achieving long-term success in the fight against corruption. The longer-term sustainability of recent improvements is not certain, however, and the challenges ahead remain formidable.

This report collects and presents available information about corruption issues facing the Philippines, ongoing anticorruption efforts in and outside the government, and suggested elements for a national anticorruption strategy, drawing on global experience. The report proposes a nine-point approach to fighting corruption in the Philippines. 1) Reducing opportunities for corruption by policy reforms and deregulations; 2) reforming campaign finance; 3) increasing public oversight; 4) reforming budget processes; 5) improving meritocracy in the civil service; 6) targeting selected departments and agencies; 7) enhancing sanctions against corruption; 8) developing partnerships with the private sector; and 9) supporting judicial reform. These initiatives, which are already underway as isolated elements, must be unified under one concerted program, a strong leadership and management structure, and a strong partnership with the private sector, civil society, donors, the congress, and judiciary.

One of the biggest impediments to anticorruption efforts is the fact that corrupt practices have become so institutionalized in everyday society that citizens view them as fixed and incontestable. To break down such an entrenched mind-set, the public s ignorance of their rights, cynicism, fear of reprisal, and mentality of submission to the status quo must first be defeated. Perhaps most important, the efficacy challenge needs to be addressed. Citizens generally must believe that they can actually do something about corruption in order to summon the courage to act upon that belief. Based on CommGAP s interactions with the global anticorruption community as well as earlier research, we were able to collate 18 representative instances (case studies) from around the world, with real-life examples of citizens coming together to speak up against corruption and social norms vis-à-vis corruption or to change public services affected by corrupt practices. This report is a one-step-up analysis of the collated case studies...

The principal objective of the Bank's governance work should be to help develop capable and accountable states to deliver services to the poor, promote private-sector-led growth, and tackle corruption effectively. The agenda for action has been defined, new tools and approaches have been developed, and governance and anticorruption (GAC) issues and concerns are increasingly being mainstreamed in the Bank's operational work at the country, sector, and project levels. With the introduction of the operational risk assessment framework (ORAF), the Bank has undertaken a major effort to improve how it manages GAC risks in the development projects and programs it supports. This note provides principles-based advice and guidance to task teams working at the sector and project levels on fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS) countries in Africa. It aims to provide a common conceptual framework for understanding the challenges and opportunities they face in project design, implementation, and supervision; highlight key lessons learned and good practice examples from others working in this area; and suggest some topics where further work is needed to understand and mitigate key operational risks. A communications strategy that frames GAC issues in a constructive way...

The effectiveness and efficiency of a country's public sector is vital to the success of development activities, including those the World Bank supports. Sound financial management, an efficient civil service and administrative policy, efficient and fair collection of taxes, and transparent operations that are relatively free of corruption all contribute to good delivery of public services. Although a majority of countries that borrowed to support public sector reform experienced improved performance in some dimensions, there were shortcomings in important areas and in overall coordination. The frequency of improvement was higher among International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) borrowers than among International Development Association (IDA) borrowers. Performance usually improved for public financial management, tax administration, and transparency, but performance did not usually improve with respect to civil service. Direct measures to reduce corruption such as anticorruption laws and commissions rarely succeeded. Recommendations to the Bank focus on improving guidelines for civil service and anticorruption reforms and on setting realistic objectives and sequencing for reforms. The Bank has helped develop tools to improve transparency and reduce bureaucratic corruption...

The war against corruption in the Philippines has taken a fresh turn with the inauguration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on January 20, 2001, and the subsequent installation of the new government. Addressing corruption was one of the new administration's announced priorities, but a detailed anticorruption strategy and detailed action plan have yet to emerge. As this report notes, the deterioration of the governance environment in 2000 seems to have taken a heavy toll on investor confidence . The report also notes that several new initiatives were born during 2000-01 as the need for combating corruption was felt more widely and urgently. This need for concrete and visible actions to combat corruption still exists, maybe to a greater degree now than in the past. Chapter 1 discusses the 9-point approach to fighting corruption in the Philippines as proposed by the World Bank in November 1999 which comprises policy reforms and deregulation, reforming campaign finance, increasing public oversight, reforming the budget process...

The critical need for private sector involvement in the fight against corruption is now an accepted fact, particularly in East Asia, where there is a buoyant private sector and where corruption has often been equated with cronyism. Cutting off corruption's supply side is a vital step in limiting the economic damage inflicted by corrupt practices. Despite the importance of private sector efforts in this regard, little attention has been paid to company anticorruption programs and to trying to learn from company experience. This book, which is based on research cosponsored by the World Bank and the Conference Board, provides detailed documentation of the efforts of Western and Asian companies to develop good standards of business conduct in their East Asian operations. It provides evidence that a common set of principles for resisting corruption can be established notwithstanding the rich cultural diversity and ownership structure of firms based in that region.

Well-governed countries is better able to formulate growth-enhancing policies, deliver essential services to the poor, and regulate financial and product markets. The appeal of governance reform and the fight against corruption can resonate widely across diverse countries and social groups, as demonstrated by recent events in the Middle East and North Africa. Building on more than two decades of experience, the World Bank's 2007 governance and anticorruption (GAC) strategy reaffirmed its continuing commitment to the crucial and challenging agenda of helping countries develop accountable and effective states. Focusing on the country operational aspects of the overall GAC agenda, the Independent Evaluation Group (lEG) assessed the relevance and effectiveness of the strategy and its first phase of implementation efforts over fiscal years 2008-10. A key feature of the evaluation is its benchmarking of the content and quality of the Bank's country-level engagement on GAC issues, before and after the 2007 strategy. The findings of this evaluation are...

This book chronicles the anticorruption reforms that have transformed public service in Georgia since the Rose Revolution in late 2003. The focus is on the 'how' behind successful reforms of selected public services. This book tries to answer some of these questions. It is based largely on data and informed by interviews with past and current high-ranking government officials who provide insights from within government on the challenges and solutions, the decisions, and the trade-offs considered. This book does not assess Georgia's overall reforms since the rose revolution. It does not address efforts toward democratization, which were a key part of the rose revolution. The book focuses on how the state was able to root out corruption and eliminate red tape in selected public services. It does not analyze areas in which government efforts are still continuing or may have fallen short. Nor does it suggest any causality between anticorruption reforms and growth or social outcomes. From the case studies on each of these efforts...

There is a growing consensus among development practitioners about the importance of governance to poverty reduction and economic growth, although there remains disagreement about the direction of causality. Poor governance manifests itself in increased corruption, poor service delivery, weak accountability and a crisis in citizens' confidence in the state. In Bangladesh, the governance challenges are interconnected and span a wide range of issues: weak public financial management, low revenue mobilization, an inefficient and weak procurement system, inadequate electoral laws including unregulated election financing that limits and distorts political competition, weak formal accountability systems including a dysfunctional Parliament and Judiciary, a lack of transparency in government decision making, and the permeation of partisan politics through all public institutions. A concerted effort to tackle these problems will require reforming formal institutions, laws, and processes but also developing strong mechanisms for accountability through civil society and the media...

The note looks at effective anticorruption legal instruments. However, law enforcement measures are not the first or necessarily the preferred method of defense. An informed citizenry, a government imbued with a service ethic, and other measures can be more effective in combating corruption. But tailoring the law to improve enforcement capacity generally encompasses a variety of statutes that prohibit bribery, nepotism, conflicts of interest, and favoritism in the award of contract or the provision of government benefits. And writing such laws containing "bright-line rules" in contrast to those containing standards open to interpretation by enforcement agencies may make it easier to monitor compliance and enforcement, but also rob the law of flexibility. Such laws often must be simplified to the point of arbitrariness-making them harder to accept than broadly-worded standards, which often conform to intuitive social understandings. The cost of bright-line rules are often more than offset by their deterrence value and their value in facilitating monitoring in countries with weak enforcement agencies. However...

The note looks at effective anticorruption legal instruments, ensuring that laws are in place to deter corruption. However, law enforcement measures are not the first, or necessarily the preferred method of defense. An informed citizenry, a government imbued with a service ethic, and other measures can be more effective in combating corruption. But tailoring the law to enforcement capacity, generally encompass a variety of statutes that prohibit bribery, nepotism, conflicts of interest, and favoritism in the award of contracts, or the provision of government benefits. And, writing such laws contain "bright-line rules" that are contrasted with those containing standards that are open to interpretation by enforcement agencies. As an example of these "bright-line rules" the note provides the recent example from Argentina, where nepotism, and favoritism in government hiring are perceived as serious problems. Considerations to the inclusion of bright-line rules include, the preclusion of receiving gifts or payments by government employees; of interest in a corporation or entity affected by that employee's decision; of hiring relatives; and...

L'enjeu des politiques anticorruption occupe une grande partie du discours politique en Malaisie. Après des événements tels que la crise financière de 1997, ou encore l'affaire Anwar en 1998, les politiques anticorruption ont été catapultées au sein du débat politique, dans lequel elles sont constamment observées, scrutées et critiquées. Ce mémoire étudie ces politiques à travers l'analyse du contrôle politique, notamment en ce qui concerne leur autonomie et leur indépendance bureaucratique. En se concentrant plus précisément sur le cas de l'agence anticorruption, notre mémoire offre un regard sur la nouvelle agence indépendante qui a récemment vu le jour en 2009, ainsi que celle qui la précède. Cette étude démontre que la nature du contrôle politique exercé a entravé et ralentit la mise en œuvre des politiques anticorruption.; The issue of anticorruption policies has permeated a significant part of the political discourse in Malaysia. After events such as the 1997 financial crisis, or the Anwar affair in 1998, anticorruption policies have been catapulted in the midst of political debate, in which their efficiency is constantly observed, scrutinized and criticized. This thesis examines anticorruption policies through the analytical lense of political control...