The Integrity Bulletin News Magazine: November 2022

Say No to Corruption

The Integrity Bulletin November 2022

The prime minister (PM) of India Narendra Modi attends the programme marking Vigilance Awareness Week of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), in New Delhi on November 3, 2022. Photo: PIB

An Editorial Initiative of Raman Media Network (RMN) Editor: Rakesh Raman

Corruption News | Anti-Corruption Campaigns | Policy Initiatives | Research Awareness | Law and Justice | Events

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Main Stories in This Issue Anti-Corruption Programs

UN Event COP11 to Combat Organized Crime Stop Prosecution of Australian Whistleblowers

Law Enforcement

RCS Office Corruption with Violation of RTI Act CBI Allows Manish Sisodia to Tell Blatant Lies

Global Cases

INTERPOL Metaverse Offers Training to Officers Short Stories of Corruption in the World

Corruption Prevention

Campaign to Expose Corruption in Kejriwal Govt No Corrupt Person Should Get Support: PM Modi

Corruption Research

Corruption Is an Organized Trade in India: Report Transparency: Exporting Corruption 2022 Report

Political Corruption

Pakistan and Financial Action Task Force Pollution in Delhi ∝ Corruption in Delhi

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No Corrupt Person Should Get Political or Social Support: PM Modi The Prime Minister asked for a system where corruption-related disciplinary proceedings are completed in time-bound mission mode.

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, addressed a programme marking the Vigilance Awareness Week of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in New Delhi on November 3. He also launched the new Complaint Management System portal of the CVC.

The prime minister (PM) of India Narendra Modi attends the programme marking Vigilance Awareness Week of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), in New Delhi on November 3, 2022. Photo: PIB

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said that Vigilance Awareness Week began with the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel. “The entire life of Sardar Patel was dedicated to honesty, transparency and the building of a public service system based on these values,” he said.

The Prime Minister remarked that the campaign revolving around awareness and alertness is based on these principles. He observed that the campaign of Vigilance Awareness Week is taking place to realize the dreams and aspirations of a corruption-free India and underlined its importance in the lives of every citizen.

The Prime Minister said that too much dependence on foreign goods has been a big cause of corruption. He highlighted the government’s push towards Atmanirbharta in defence and

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underlined that the possibility of scams is ending as India would be manufacturing its own defence equipment, from rifles to fighter jets to transport aircraft.

He also asked the vigilance community to think about modernizing their audits and inspections. “The will which the government is showing against corruption, the same will is necessary to be seen in all the departments as well. For a developed India, we have to develop such an administrative ecosystem, which has zero tolerance on corruption,” he said.

The Prime Minister asked for a system where corruption-related disciplinary proceedings are completed in time-bound mission mode. He also suggested continuous monitoring of criminal cases and asked to devise a way of ranking departments on the basis of pending corruption cases and publishing the related reports on a monthly or quarterly basis.

[ Also Read: India Corruption Research Report 2022 ] The Prime Minister also asked for streamlining of the vigilance clearance process with the help of technology. There is a need for auditing the data of public grievances so that we can go to the root causes of corruption in the concerned department, the Prime Minister added.

He stressed the need to bring in common citizens in the work of keeping a vigil over corruption. “No matter how powerful the corrupt may be, they should not be saved under any circumstances, it is the responsibility of organizations like you (CVC). No corrupt person should get political-social support, every corrupt person should be put in the dock by the society, it is also necessary to create this environment,” he said.

Touching upon a worrying trend, the Prime Minister said “We have seen that many times the corrupt people are glorified in spite of being jailed even after being proven to be corrupt. This situation is not good for Indian society. Even today, some people give arguments in favour of the corrupt who have been found guilty. It is very necessary for such people, such forces, to be made aware of their duty by the society.”

The Prime Minister emphasized that institutions acting against the corrupt and corruption like the CVC, have no need to be defensive in any way. He stressed that there is no requirement to work on any political agenda but to work towards making the lives of ordinary citizens simpler.

Principal Secretary, Dr. P. K. Mishra; Minister of State for Personnel & Parliamentary Affairs, Dr. Jitendra Singh; Cabinet Secretary, Rajiv Gauba; Central Vigilance Commissioner, Suresh N. Patel, and Vigilance Commissioners, P. K. Srivastava and Arvinda Kumar were also present on the occasion.

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Corruption Is an Organized Trade in India: Research Report Now, bureaucrats circumvent the law and misuse their discretionary powers to give undue benefits to those who bribe them.

As the corruption methods have always been evolving in India, the contemporary system of corruption has assumed the form of an organized trade in which corruption has become a non-issue in the country.

This is one of the findings of the new India Corruption Research Report 2022 (ICRR 2022) released in October 2022. The report says that bribery is the traditional form of corruption, but now the acts of corruption are happening on a broader landscape.

For example, massive political corruption in connivance with private corporations is taking place under the garb of secret electoral bonds. Likewise, megalomaniac politicians such as the prime minister and the chief ministers in different Indian States splurge huge public funds to promote themselves through advertisements and publicity campaigns carried out in collusion with corrupt media outlets.

While governance is a collaborative exercise, these corrupt politicians get their own photographs published on all publicity material to hoodwink the voters and get undue political advantage in elections.

The political parties also sell election tickets in crores of rupees secretly to candidates who want to contest elections under their banners. The ill-gotten money is spent by politicians to bribe the voters, purchase crowds who attend politicians’ election rallies, and hire hoodlums who commit riots and spread violence before and during elections to help political parties win elections unscruplously.

Similarly, the bureaucratic corruption style is also evolving. Now, bureaucrats circumvent the law and misuse their discretionary powers to give undue benefits to those who bribe them.

Dereliction of duty, inefficiency, lack of skills to handle official work, ignorance, apathy toward citizens, reckless decisions to plunder public funds are also among the new forms of corruption by bureaucrats at all levels of government. Since government politicians are mostly illiterate or inexperienced, they are heavily dependent on bureaucrats for all clerical

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work. While the unskilled bureaucrats are not able to complete their tasks effectively, on average almost 10 bureaucrats are paid for work that can be done by a single person.

Thus, salaries being given to bureaucrats with public money is a form of corruption to loot the government exchequer. It is estimated that a whopping 10% of India’s GDP is wasted on salaries of government employees while they do not deserve even a fraction of this money.

You can click here to read the full report and click here to watch a related video. You can also share the report with your friends and colleagues through email, WhatsApp, or other social media channels so that they could support this anti-corruption initiative.

INTERPOL Metaverse Offers Training to Law Enforcement Officers in Virtual World The Metaverse holds many benefits for law enforcement, notably in terms of remote work, networking, collecting and preserving evidence from crime scenes, and delivering training.

At a session of the 90th INTERPOL General Assembly in New Delhi, the global police organization unveiled the first ever Metaverse specifically designed for law enforcement worldwide.

The INTERPOL Metaverse allows registered users to tour a virtual facsimile of the INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France without any geographical or physical boundaries, interact with other officers via their avatars, and even take immersive training courses in forensic investigation and other policing capabilities.

The INTERPOL Metaverse is provided through the INTERPOL Secure Cloud, ensuring its neutrality. During the interactive session in October 2022, General Assembly delegates in New Delhi were able to digitally enter the Lyon building through avatars, using virtual reality headsets.

“For many, the Metaverse seems to herald an abstract future, but the issues it raises are those that have always motivated INTERPOL – supporting our member countries to fight crime and making the world, virtual or not, safer for those who inhabit it,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock. “We may be entering a new world, but our commitment remains the same.”

In a follow-up panel discussion, INTERPOL also announced the creation of an Expert Group on the Metaverse to represent the concerns of law enforcement on the global stage – ensuring this new virtual world is secure by design.

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The Metaverse is often discussed as the potential next stage in the development of the Internet. INTERPOL says that by 2026, one in every four people will spend at least an hour a day in the Metaverse to work, study, shop and socialize, according to technology research firm Gartner.

The INTERPOL Metaverse allows registered users to tour a virtual facsimile of the INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France without any geographical or physical boundaries. Photo: INTERPOL

As the newly released INTERPOL Global Crime Trend report shows, crime has increasingly moved online as the pace of digitalization has increased. If the boundaries of our physical world move ever further into a digital – and seemingly borderless – realm, the panel discussion asked, ‘how can law enforcement continue to protect communities and guarantee the rule of law?’

According to INTERPOL, criminals are already starting to exploit the Metaverse. The World Economic Forum, which has partnered with INTERPOL, Meta, Microsoft and others in an initiative to define and govern the Metaverse, has warned that social engineering scams, violent extremism and misinformation could be particular challenges.

As the number of Metaverse users grows and the technology further develops, the list of possible crimes will only expand to potentially include crimes against children, data theft, money laundering, financial fraud, counterfeiting, ransomware, phishing, and sexual assault and harassment.

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For law enforcement, according to INTERPOL, some of these threats are likely to present significant challenges, because not all acts that are criminalized in the physical world are considered crimes when committed in the virtual world.

“By identifying these risks from the outset, we can work with stakeholders to shape the necessary governance frameworks and cut off future criminal markets before they are fully formed,” said Madan Oberoi, INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Technology and Innovation.

“Only by having these conversations now can we build an effective response.”

The Metaverse holds many benefits for law enforcement, notably in terms of remote work, networking, collecting and preserving evidence from crime scenes, and delivering training.

Capacity building in the Metaverse holds particular promise, offering students more opportunities to collaborate and network, ensuring a greater engagement through immersion and enabling hands-on activities.

In a live demonstration, experts from the INTERPOL Capacity Building and Training Directorate delivered a training course on travel document verification and passenger screening using INTERPOL capabilities in a Metaverse classroom. Students were then teleported to an airport where they were able to apply their newly acquired skills at a virtual border point.

BJP Launches Campaign to Expose Corruption in Kejriwal Govt Now it appears that AAP is perhaps the only political outfit in India in which all the politicians are dishonest.

The Delhi unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a campaign to expose the increasing levels of corruption in Delhi Government headed by chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal.

Launched on November 2 under a weird #NamoCyberYoddha banner, the campaign will oppose government corruption and false promises being made by Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The local BJP has been aggressively opposing corruption in the Kejriwal government, but Kejriwal and AAP ignore the BJP’s opposition and field protests.

Most people in India know that Kejriwal’s AAP is facing myriad cases of crime and corruption.

One of AAP ministers Satyendar Jain is already in jail for a massive money laundering scandal.

Another AAP minister Manish Sisodia is facing multiple corruption cases while India’s top

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investigating agency the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a formal case against him in August 2022.

The Delhi unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a campaign on November 2, 2022 to expose the increasing levels of corruption in Delhi Government headed by chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal. Photo: BJP

Sisodia is allegedly involved in a liquor scam case and corruption of hundreds of crores of rupees in the construction of classrooms in Delhi schools.

But instead of addressing public queries about their reported crimes, strangely the AAP politicians have been trying to unscrupulously divert the attention to unrelated issues. Now it appears that AAP is perhaps the only political outfit in India in which all the politicians are dishonest.

It is also being increasingly observed that Kejriwal is splurging huge public money on media advertisements to gain false publicity for himself and his party and also to cover up the criminal cases of his party colleagues. There is a possibility that Kejriwal is also complicit in these crime and corruption cases.

The Right to Information (RTI) replies by the Directorate of Information and Publicity reveal that the Delhi Government’s spending on advertisements increased by a whopping 4,273% over 10 financial years ending with 2021-2022, particularly under Kejriwal’s government. After getting advertisements from Kejriwal, most corrupt media outlets do not question AAP’s

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wrongdoings and the TV anchors particularly do not interject when AAP leaders divert the issues or tell flagrant lies in TV shows to evade crucial questions.

While the Kejriwal government is controlling the traditional media companies with the power of public money, it is being observed that there are attempts to suppress or remove information related to AAP’s corruption cases from new-media sites such as Wikipedia, which is a free online encyclopedia.

Meanwhile, as part of its anti-corruption campaign, BJP has also introduced a mobile phone number on which people can give a missed call and join the campaign as volunteers to expose corruption in Delhi Government.

After FATF Certification, Pakistan to Become a Terror-Free Nation Pakistan took some major steps to stop terrorism under the leadership of former prime minister (PM) Imran Khan.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) - which monitors global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing cases - has removed Pakistan from the “grey list” of increased monitoring.

Jurisdictions under increased monitoring work actively with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.

When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to swiftly resolve the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring. This list is often referred to as the “grey list”.

The FATF made this announcement on October 21 during the first Plenary of the FATF under the Presidency of T. Raja Kumar of Singapore. Delegates from over 200 jurisdictions of the Global Network participated in these discussions at the FATF headquarters in Paris.

As a result of this announcement, Pakistan can hope to become a terror-free state. The neighbouring country India often blamed Pakistan for terror activities, although there is hardly any evidence for the allegations.

Pakistan took some major steps to stop terrorism under the leadership of former prime minister (PM) Imran Khan. After a series of public protests led by opposition parties against Imran Khan’s failure to revive the economy, he was removed from the PM position in April 2022.

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Meanwhile, the FATF members agreed to release, for public consultation, draft guidance on Recommendation 24 to help countries and the private sector implement FATF’s strengthened requirements on beneficial ownership to prevent criminals from hiding illicit activity behind opaque corporate structures.

Imran Khan. Photo: PTI (file photo)

FATF also approved the release of a public consultation document on proposed revisions to Recommendation 25 on transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements.

Delegations were updated on other ongoing work, including a project on countering the laundering of proceeds from ransomware attacks, and work to update the FATF best practices paper on combating the abuse of non-profit organizations.

Delegations were also updated on projects and activities to implement the March 2022 Strategic Vision for the Global Network of 206 jurisdictions that have jointly agreed to strengthen their regimes to tackle money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing.

UN Event COP11 Held to Combat Organized Crime The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) opened its 11th session (COP11) on October 17.

The event registered around 1500 participants from 131 countries, including 22 international organizations and 193 civil society organizations.

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In opening the session, Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), highlighted that "the UNTOC and its Protocols represent powerful tools to build the resilience of States and societies to crime. It is time to step up their implementation, in the face of evolving and emerging organized crime threats."

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) opened its 11th session (COP11) on 17 October 2022 at Vienna (Austria). Photo: UNODC

Baker Fattah Hussen, Ambassador of Iraq and COP11 President, stressed in his opening remarks that "the UNTOC COP11 Presidency is looking forward to strengthening multilateralism, building upon the value of the UNTOC, its Protocols and Review Mechanism, and creating a conducive environment for the inclusion of all perspectives, in line with the consolidated ‘Vienna spirit’.”

During COP11, the Conference considered a number of thematic resolutions. Themes awaiting resolution include the implementation of the provisions on international cooperation, technical assistance and applying UNTOC for preventing and combating transnational organized crimes that affect the environment.

Among other thematic issues, the COP11 discussions focused on enhancing international cooperation to combat all forms of transnational organized crime, including trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants, trafficking in firearms, cybercrime, financial crimes, and crimes that affect the environment.

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Short Stories of Corruption in the World The World Bank Group has highlighted its efforts to advance the fight against fraud and corruption in the development projects it finances, with the release of its Sanctions System Annual Report for fiscal year 2022. The joint report of the World Bank Group’s Integrity Vice Presidency (INT), Office of Suspension and Debarment (OSD), and Sanctions Board, illustrates how in a time of increasingly complex global challenges and historic development support by the World Bank Group, the institution’s sanctions system was resolute in maintaining its anticorruption oversight of the institution’s development financing. Read More

Prosecutors in Spain have dropped corruption and fraud charges against football star Neymar and others accused in a trial over the Brazilian’s 2013 move from Santos to Barcelona. Prosecutors had sought a two-year prison term for Neymar and the payment of a 10 million-euro ($9.95m) fine in the case brought by Brazilian investment firm DIS, which owned 40 percent of the rights to Neymar when he was at Santos. Read More

A UK subsidiary of mining giant Glencore has been ordered to pay more than £275m for bribing officials in African countries to get access to oil. The company paid $26m (£23m) through agents and employees to officials of crude oil firms in Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast between 2011 and 2016. Prosecutors said Glencore Energy UK employees and agents used private jets to transfer cash to pay the bribes. Glencore Energy UK pleaded guilty to seven corruption offences in June. Read More

A former boss of NHS hospitals in England accused of corruption in Australia has had his case thrown out of court. Prosecutors in Brisbane have dropped charges against Malcolm Stamp, who had been accused of nepotism and other offences. The Queensland Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed the matter had been discontinued. Read More

The Communist Party of China said that they are currently investigating around 5 million members on corruption charges. According to the Associated Press, the investigation concerns corruption charges over the last 10-15 years and 553 people were charged with formal criminal cases. The announcement was made by the deputy secretary of the Communist Party’s Committee for Discipline and Inspection - Xiao Pei. Read More

Ecuador's attorney general has detained seven people, including former officials, as part of an investigation into suspected corruption in state oil company Petroecuador, it said on November 1. Prosecutors carried out raids across several cities at the same time. Read More

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RCS Office Corruption with Violation of RTI Act The violation of RTI Act is a new form of corruption being committed by the RCS officials so that they could continue their corrupt acts secretly.

I sent the following complaint to the authorities.

To

October 21, 2022

The Chief Information Commissioner Central Information Commission (CIC) of India New Delhi Secretary Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) Government of India Lieutenant Governor (LG) Delhi Government, Delhi Subject: Complaint against the officials of Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) office of Delhi Government for blatantly violating the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

Appeal: Since the current provision of penalties under Section 20 of the RTI Act is not sufficient for corrupt RCS officials, a jail term and termination of their services is recommended.

Dear Authorities, I am a national award-winning journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation (my detailed profile is given below). Please refer to a recent complaint by the Central Information Commission (CIC) office about the flagrant violations of the RTI Act by the bureaucrats of Delhi Government.

In response to the CIC complaint, the Lt. Governor (LG) of Delhi Mr. Vinai Saxena has directed the chief secretary to take action to ensure proper implementation of RTI Act in the state. A report in the Hindustan Times newspaper on October 11, 2022 quotes a CIC letter to Delhi LG which accuses the Delhi Government of failing to implement the RTI Act and reducing it to a “lame duck” legislation.

This observation of the CIC office is also correct in the case of the office of Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS), which is one of the most corrupt departments of Delhi

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Government. The RCS office is a unique case of RTI violations because along with information blockade, the concerned RCS officials also provide wrong information to the applicants in order to deceive them.

I will explain the criminality of RCS officials with a recent case which is described below.

CRIMINALITY OF RCS OFFICIALS I have been running a free online anti-corruption social service “Clean House” for the past 5 years to help the suffering residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in cooperative group housing societies (CGHS).

Office of the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of Delhi Government, which is among the most corrupt departments of India. Photo: Rakesh Raman / RMN News Service

These housing societies - regulated by the RCS office - have become dangerous centres of crime and corruption. The crimes in these housing societies are being committed by the managing committee (MC) members or administrators in connivance with the corrupt RCS officials.

In order to check the criminal activities in housing societies, the RCS office has repeatedly issued orders for the societies to make their exclusive websites and keep them updated to ensure transparency and reduce corruption. But strangely the RCS office does not enforce its own directions and allows the societies to operate opaquely.

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As a result, rampant corruption is happening in almost all housing societies of Delhi and the RCS office ignores the aggrieved residents’ complaints against crime and corruption because the criminal MC members of housing societies bribe the RCS officials. Since the society websites - if operated transparently - can reduce corruption to some extent, I filed the following RTI application on September 21, 2022 with the RCS office to seek information about the status of websites.

To

September 21, 2022

The Public Information Officer (PIO) Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS), Delhi Government Old Court Building, Parliament Street, New Delhi 110 001 Subject: RTI Application to Seek Information under the Right to Information Act 2005 Name of the Applicant: Rakesh Raman Dear PIO, RCS Office, Delhi Government, Please provide me the following information: 1. How many cooperative group housing societies (CGHSs) are in Delhi?

2. How many flats are in cooperative group housing societies of Delhi?

3. How many notifications or directives has the RCS office issued during the years 2015 to 2022 to the managing committees (MCs) of cooperative group housing societies in Delhi to make their society website?

4. How many cooperative group housing societies of Delhi have a working website?

5. How many cooperative group housing societies of Delhi do not update their websites regularly and with relevant information?

6. What action has the RCS office taken against the MCs which have not made their society website?

7. Which Section of the DCS Act is violated by the MCs which have not made their website or which are not updating it properly?

8. What is the reason that the RCS office does not take action against the MCs which defy the RCS directives about website creation?

If the information sought above is not available in your office, please forward my application to the concerned public information authority to seek information.

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Thank You Rakesh Raman But instead of giving me the information, the RCS office kept informing me through multiple communications that it does not have the information. It also asked me to visit the RCS website, which is so crudely developed that it is almost impossible to find information from it.

Many of the links on RCS website are defective, but the corrupt RCS bureaucrats never tried to make it a useful online facility for the citizens. Obviously, I could not find the information that I requested in my RTI application. A couple of RCS communications in response to my RTI application are given below as Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2.

I was shocked to know that the RCS office does not have the basic information such as the number of cooperative group housing societies (CGHSs) in Delhi while it is the only government department that regulates these housing societies. And when the RCS office is directing the societies to make their websites, it is the responsibility of the RCS bureaucrats to monitor compliance and it must compile the list of societies that defy its directions so that they could be penalized.

But the corrupt RCS officials provide impunity to criminal MC members of societies who regularly bribe them. Also, in order to harass the RTI applicants, the RCS office gives wrong contact details of its Public Information Officers (PIOs) and does not follow the RTI "User Manual". I informed the RCS office about these lapses. But, as usual, the RCS office neither replied to my emails nor did it provide me with the information requested through the RTI application.

The RCS office deliberately gives wrong email addresses such as rcoop@gmail.com and ositdelhi@nic.in and faulty phone numbers to RTI applicants so that it could block the information requested by them.

Moreover, the RCS office flouts the rule for making additional payment, as it does not give an option to applicants to make payment online as described on page 20 of the RTI “User Manual”.

While the RCS office never replies to public emails sent to its official email rcoop@nic.in, the particulars of Public Information Officers (PIOs) under RTI Act mentioned in its Manual-16 are wrong and the RCS PIOs are so careless that they do not bother to take public calls. You can click here to download and read my email sent to the RCS office on October 12, 2022 in which I have complained that the PIO contact and the email addresses given by the RCS office are wrong.

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You can also click here to download and read my email sent to the RCS office on October 12, 2022 in which I have complained that there is no additional payment option given by the RCS office to make payment online as described on page 20 of the RTI "User Manual". But the RCS office did not reply.

Since massive corruption amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees is happening at the RCS office, the RCS bureaucrats are not willing to share information with the public under the RTI Act. They also openly violate the Delhi Cooperative Societies Act (DCS Act) to commit corruption crimes. A number of RCS bureaucrats have been jailed for corruption and some senior RCS bureaucrats (IAS officers) are under investigations for their corrupt practices.

These investigations have been ordered by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India to be carried out by the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India. But corruption has not stopped and is only increasing at the RCS office.

NEED TO REVAMP RTI PROCESSES The violation of RTI Act is a new form of corruption being committed by the RCS officials so that they could continue their corrupt acts secretly. In order to check corruption, the RTI processes need to be revamped.

For example, the RTI officers / PIOs should never call the applicants for physical hearings and to visit their offices to search files. It is the responsibility of the RTI officers / PIOs to deliver information at the applicant’s address.

It will be better if the information requested by the RTI applicants is stored digitally on a cloud platform and just the hyperlink / weblink is shared with the applicants instead of sending the paper documents to them. This is essential to reduce cost, save paper, and protect the environment.

Moreover, if there is a need for hearings in appeals, etc., the RTI officers / PIOs should give the option to the applicants to join online / virtual meetings. And it should be registered as a cognizable offence of destroying the evidence against the RTI officers / PIOs if they say that the documents sought by the RTI applicant are not traceable.

The RTI Act is being grossly violated by the RTI officers / PIOs of the RCS office to neglect their official duties and suppress information for which they must face strict legal action.

Therefore, the penalties for RTI Act violations should be linked with the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) so that the bureaucrats at RCS office and other offices could be punished with imprisonment.

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REQUEST FOR ACTION In view of the facts stated above, the authorities are requested to: 1. Identify the RCS officials who have violated the RTI Act and start prosecution against them so that they could be convicted and jailed at the earliest.

2. Since lack of transparency increases the chances of corruption, the culprit RCS officials must be prosecuted for their corrupt acts of blocking the information sought through the RTI applications and dereliction of official duty.

3. Prosecute the RCS officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) and other provisions of IPC, as the penalties under the RTI Act are very weak to deter negligence and corruption.

4. Revamp the RTI processes completely by significantly using information and communications technology (ICT) and web-based systems in order to reduce the level of bureaucrats’ physical interaction with RTI applicants.

5. Make an online repository for each department to store the information delivered to different RTI applications in order to reduce the repetitiveness and make the process more efficient. The citizens can first search this repository and if the information is not available in it, they can file the RTI application.

You can click here to download and read the full complaint. You can click here to watch a related video on YouTube. You can click here to read this report in ebook format. | Rakesh Raman

Pollution in Delhi ∝ Corruption in Delhi Instead of spending public money to stop pollution in the city-state, the Kejriwal government is splurging huge money on false advertisements to promote Kejriwal and AAP in other states where elections are taking place.

The air quality in New Delhi (Delhi) has reached cataclysmic levels while the city continues to be the most polluted national capital in the world. IQAir - a Swiss-based air quality technology company - shows that the current level of air quality in Delhi is very unhealthy.

The IQAir data of October 25, 2022 reveals that the PM2.5 concentration in Delhi is 31 times the World Health Organization (WHO) annual air quality guideline value. PM2.5 is particulate matter pollution measuring 2.5 microns or less. These microscopic particles are considered a major threat to human health. PM2.5 can be inhaled and absorbed into the bloodstream, impacting both the respiratory and cardiovascular system.

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Similarly, the Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI) on October 25, 2022 shows “Very Unhealthy” or hazardous air quality level in Delhi. Also, an interactive tool on the Breathe Life 2030 website indicates a particulate matter (PM 2.5) level of 105 micrograms per cubic metre (annual mean) in Delhi. This is 21 times more than the WHO safe level of 5 µg/m3.

Delhi Air Pollution: The Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI) on November 5, 2021 shows hazardous air quality level in Delhi. (file photo)

Simply put, the people of Delhi are inhaling atmospheric poison from the air. The air quality will worsen in the coming weeks and months.

POLLUTION ∝ CORRUPTION IN DELHI Many factors - such as vehicular traffic, stubble burning, construction, firecrackers - are ascribed to the increasing levels of air pollution in Delhi. However, bureaucratic and political corruption is the main reason for this persisting calamity. Now, pollution in Delhi is directly proportional (∝) to corruption in Delhi.

Delhi chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal is running one of the most corrupt governments in India. A number of politicians who belong to Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are either in jail for committing financial crimes or facing serious corruption charges.

Instead of spending public money to stop pollution in the city-state, the Kejriwal government is splurging huge money on false advertisements to promote Kejriwal and AAP in other states where elections are taking place. While Kejriwal keeps roaming like a stray dog in other states such as Punjab, Gujarat, and Himachal Pradesh to hold unruly election rallies, he does not

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have any time or interest in saving the people of Delhi from deadly pollution. Rather, he shamelessly downplays the threat from pollution.

Although a Vinai Kumar Saxena was handpicked by the government of prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi in May 2022 to work as the Lt. Governor (LG) of Delhi, he is so naive and unqualified that he cannot handle the problems of Delhi. As a result, the people of Delhi are suffering under unprecedented corruption, lethal pollution, widespread filth, water scarcity, and other infrastructural hassles.

While the people are dying with pollution and related diseases, the crumbling healthcare system including the fraudulently run Mohalla Clinics of Delhi cannot provide proper treatment to them.

CORRUPT POLLUTION AGENCIES Similarly, the officials of Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) who are supposed to control pollution are so incompetent and corrupt that they have failed and are now facing corruption investigations. [ You can click here to read the latest “India Corruption Research Report 2022”. ] Among the officials who are facing these investigations are Tanmay Kumar, IAS [ Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, New Delhi ] and Sanjeev Khirwar, IAS [ the then Chairman, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Government of NCT of Delhi, Delhi ].

Tanmay Kumar and Sanjeev Khirwar completely failed in their responsibility to stop the citywide environmental crime and to control deadly pollution in Delhi which has reached a genocidal level.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India, has urged the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, to investigate the corruption cases of Tanmay Kumar and Sanjeev Khirwar among other IAS officers through the Group of Secretaries constituted in terms of DOP&T OM No. 104/100/2009-AVD-I dated 14.01.2010.

These bureaucrats are operating as part of a citywide crime and corruption racket – termed as Widehouse Corruption Scandal – which is being run in Delhi by local criminals in connivance with crooked politicians, corrupt bureaucrats, complicit police officials, dishonest members of judiciary, and builders’ mafia. [ You can click here to read a comprehensive report on the Widehouse Corruption Scandal. ]

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Meanwhile, a new global report (Ecological Threat Report 2022: Analysing Ecological Threats, Resilience & Peace) has warned of an imminent ecological disaster in Delhi.

The report says factors such as poor infrastructure, lethal air pollution, weak regulatory framework, and administrative failure are going to make Delhi unsustainable for its population of over 30 million.

CBI Allows Liquor Scam Accused Manish Sisodia to Tell Blatant Lies It is CBI’s weakness that Sisodia is spreading falsehood in the liquor scam case to mislead the public and gullible journalists.

The trouble with the politicians of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is that they tell lies even for those issues in which truth can work. They keep saying that their leader Arvind Kejriwal is facing death threats, but there is no threat to him.

A signature campaign was launched on September 6, 2022 in Delhi to get tainted Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) politician and Delhi Government minister Manish Sisodia removed from his position. Photo: BJP

The AAP liars recently said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prime minister Narendra Modi is trying to buy AAP Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in Delhi and Punjab, but they could never give any evidence for this allegation.

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Kejriwal and his dishonest colleagues in AAP keep telling lies about AAP Mohalla Clinics in Delhi and Punjab, jobs for people, and particularly the school education in Delhi which has gone from bad to worse under the Kejriwal government.

Now, true to his party traits, an AAP politician Manish Sisodia is telling flagrant lies to hide his involvement in an ongoing liquor scam case.

After attending a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) hearing on October 17 in the liquor scandal, Sisodia claimed without any evidence that CBI asked him to quit AAP and join BJP which will make him Delhi CM. Among his lies, Sisodia also said that CBI has admitted that there is no case against him but he is being harassed like his colleague Satyendar Jain, who is in jail for the past five months in a money laundering case.

But in a statement released on October 17, CBI refuted all the claims of Sisodia and said that Sisodia was questioned strictly on the allegations in the FIR (first information report) and the evidence collected so far during the course of investigation. CBI added that Sisodia’s statement will be verified in due course and further action will be taken as per requirements of investigation.

In fact, it is CBI’s weakness that Sisodia is spreading falsehood in the liquor scam case to mislead the public and gullible journalists. In order to prove fairness of its investigation, CBI should publicly release the transcript of the hearing with Sisodia.

And in future, CBI and other investigative agencies should live-stream the hearings so that Sisodia and his ilk are not able to present a wrong narrative of their interrogation in crime and corruption cases.

LIQUOR SCAM CASE After the August 19 raids by the CBI at Sisodia’s residence, he and his AAP accomplices are telling blatant lies or half-truths with the aim to protect him in the liquor mafia collusion case.

Sisodia – who is a deputy chief minister (CM) under Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal – is facing serious allegations of corruption, criminal conspiracy, and falsification of government accounts, while the CBI has filed an FIR in which Sisodia’s name is at the top of a list of 15 accused in this case.

The opposition party in Delhi BJP has been running aggressive campaigns to get Sisodia removed from his position in the government. But Kejriwal is not removing him presumably for the fear that he might divulge the names of other AAP politicians who may be involved in liquor scam and other scandals. In July, the Lt. Governor (LG) Vinai Saxena – who is the administrative head of Delhi – had asked the CBI to probe Sisodia’s surreptitious links with the liquor mafia that led to massive corruption in the sale of liquor shop licences in the city.

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An August 22 article in The New Indian Express details different aspects of the case along with the names of the accused who allegedly colluded with Sisodia to run the criminal liquor network involved in an estimated corruption of hundreds of crores of rupees.

Now, instead of answering the media questions related to Delhi liquor scam in which Sisodia is allegedly involved, the AAP members are unsuccessfully trying to divert the case to unrelated issues such as Delhi school education that Sisodia handles.

In their media interactions on Sisodia’s liquor scam case, the AAP spokespersons had been unnecessarily flaunting a New York Times (NYT) school education article which looks like an advertorial (advertisement or paid article) arranged by AAP’s publicity department. The article without any research falsely praises Sisodia and Delhi school education.

FALSE PUBLICITY It is being increasingly observed that Kejriwal is splurging huge public money on media advertisements to gain false publicity for himself and his party. The Right to Information (RTI) replies by the Directorate of Information and Publicity reveal that the Delhi Government’s spending on advertisements increased by a whopping 4,273% over 10 financial years ending with 2021-2022, particularly under Kejriwal’s government.

As a result, most corrupt media outlets do not question AAP’s wrongdoings and the TV anchors particularly do not interject when AAP leaders divert the issues or tell flagrant lies in TV shows to evade crucial questions. While the Kejriwal government is controlling the traditional media companies with the power of public money, it is being observed that there are attempts to suppress or remove information related to AAP’s corruption cases from new-media sites such as Wikipedia which is a free online encyclopedia.

Now AAP politicians are trying to build a false school education narrative to cover up Sisodia’s alleged involvement in liquor corruption scandal. Similarly, they are using the Mohalla Clinics story to skirt questions related to the financial crimes of Satyendar Jain, another minister in the Kejriwal government. Jain – who is a minister without portfolio in the Kejriwal government – was sent to jail on June 13, as India’s financial crimes investigation agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) is questioning him in a massive money laundering case.

With the help of corrupt journalists, Kejriwal and other AAP leaders are spreading falsehood about Delhi school education which has gone from bad to worse and defunct Mohalla Clinics which are not providing healthcare to people. Since Sisodia and his accomplices in AAP are not answering the questions and confusing the whole liquor scam case with their false rhetoric, the CBI should immediately arrest and interrogate Sisodia and others so that people could know the truth.

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Media Reports on Corruption in India The Supreme Court of India refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) on 2 November 2022 to improve India's "pathetic" ranking on the global Corruption Perceptions Index. The petition expected the Court to issue directions to the Centre, states and union territories to set up expert committees to suggest steps for improving India's ranking on the Index. Read More

Faced by a 40 percent commission charge against his government, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai hit back at the Congress for ‘maladministration’ when it was in power between 2013 and 2018 and alleged that there were instances of “100 percent corruption” then. Read More

Former Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik has been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with two cases of corruption. The agency had registered the cases in April regarding purported irregularities in two projects in Jammu and Kashmir when Malik was the Governor there. Read More

In a surprising move, the Karnataka government decided to bring IAS officer J Manjunath back into service after he was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in July in connection with a bribery case. In an order dated October 31, Manjunath has been appointed as special officer and joint secretary of the health and family welfare department. Read More

The Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta has issued notices to 15 people, including Ujjain district collector and two other IAS officers, in a complaint related to the 'alleged' financial irregularities in construction works related to Mahakal Lok Corridor. Officers have been accused of misusing their official position and giving financial benefits to a contractor. Read More

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested an assistant inspector general (AIG) of Punjab Police for taking a bribe of Rs 1 crore through separate cheques. The money allegedly exchanged hands in 2018 when AIG Ashish Kapoor, currently posted as the commandant of the 4th Indian Reserve Battalion in Pathankot, was AIG Punjab Vigilance Bureau. The Vigilance Bureau also booked DSP (Intelligence) Pawan Kumar and ASI Harjinder Singh as accused. Read More

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ICRR 2022

Transparency International Releases Exporting Corruption 2022 Report Foreign bribery diverts resources, undermines democracy and the rule of law, and distorts markets.

A new Transparency International report assesses foreign bribery enforcement in 43 of the 44 signatories to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention as well as in China, Hong Kong SAR, India and Singapore.

While not parties to the OECD Convention, these four countries and territories are major exporters, each with a share of over 2 percent of world trade, with China being the world’s leading exporter.

According to Transparency International, bribery of foreign public officials by multinational companies gives them illicit profits, with huge costs and consequences across the globe. (Photo: Transparency International)

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Foreign bribery diverts resources, undermines democracy and the rule of law, and distorts markets. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention requires parties to prohibit and enforce against foreign bribery.

The report also identifies inadequacies in legal frameworks and enforcement systems as well as progress in addressing them. It further shines a spotlight on the critical issue of victims’ compensation and identifies areas for improvement with respect to the transparency of foreign bribery enforcement data and case dispositions.

Crime, Corruption, and Impunity in India Politicians, bureaucrats, police, and judges have formed a criminal gang in India. The following cases depict how they collude with criminals and commit crimes and corruption with impunity while the ordinary citizens are suffering.

Click the following links for details.

Cabinet Secretariat Case

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Case

Prime Minister Office (PMO) Case

Delhi Lokayukta Case

DoPT Case

CBI Case

Economic Offences Wing (EOW) Case

Supreme Court Case

Delhi Govt Case

Delhi Petitions Committee / CVC Case

NHRC Case

School Education Case

Environmental Crime Case

Lokpal Removal Case

Judicial Corruption Case

RCS Corruption Case

AAP Corruption Case

Widehouse Scandal

NHRC Case at UN HRC

IAS Group Corruption Case

CPGRAMS Cases

PGMS Cases

IAS Corruption Record

UNCAC Petition

Delhi Police Case

DoPT Processes

RCS RTI Violations Petitions and Representations by Rakesh Raman. Up to October 2022

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Stop Prosecution of Australian Whistleblowers: Anti-corruption Organizations The letter calls for the Attorney-General to urgently intervene to stop the injustice caused by these prosecutions and minimize the chilling effect of these cases.

The Whistleblowing International Network (WIN), and 17 whistleblowing protection, anti-corruption, and human rights organizations, have written a letter to Australia’s Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, to express deep concern about the ongoing criminal prosecution of Australian whistleblowers Mr Richard Boyle and Mr David McBride and to urge him to urgently take steps to restore faith in Australia's whistleblowing laws. (Photo: WIN) Mr Boyle blew the whistle on serious wrongdoing at the Australian Taxation Office, concerning staff being instructed to use harsher debt collection tactics on small businesses.

Mr McBride, a former Army Lawyer, spoke out on war crimes allegedly committed by Australian forces serving in Afghanistan.

Despite raising matters of serious public interest – and both since vindicated by independent investigations – these prosecutions have continued for over 4 years.

The letter dated 2 November 2022 calls for the Attorney-General to urgently intervene to stop the injustice caused by these prosecutions and minimize the chilling effect of these cases. It is also crucial that Australia’s whistleblowing law is fixed to ensure such cases can never happen again.

It adds that if Australia proceeds to prosecute and imprison public officials who speak up about government wrongdoing, it will lose credibility on the world stage when it comes to transparency and accountability.

About the Editor The editor of The Integrity Bulletin news magazine Rakesh Raman is a national award-winning journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation. Besides working at senior editorial positions with leading media companies, he was writing an exclusive edit-page column regularly for The Financial Express (a daily business newspaper of The Indian Express Group).

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Nowadays, for the past 12 years, he has been running his own global news services on multiple news sites. He runs various environment protection, education awareness, and anti-corruption campaigns, and publishes digital magazines and research reports on different subjects.

Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development.

At present, Rakesh is associated with the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project as a Country Expert for India to provide expert research inputs on multiple topics pertaining to democracy and governance. The V-Dem Project is managed by V-Dem Institute under the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Currently, he is also working as an editor for Wikipedia, which is a free online global encyclopedia.

In order to inform the Indian citizens and the global community about the extent of corruption in India, he compiled and released in October 2022 a comprehensive report on corruption in the country. Under the title “India Corruption Research Report 2022 (ICRR 2022),” the research report covers diverse aspects of corruption in India. He has launched a nationwide campaign to introduce social democracy in India in order to build an egalitarian society in which all citizens could enjoy equal rights, opportunities, freedoms, and access to justice.

He is running an editorial section / microsite “Power Play: Lok Sabha Election 2024 in India” to cover the election news, events, and political campaigns. In his anti-corruption activities, he participated in a global petition led by Germany-based international organization Transparency International to call for the UN General Assembly Special Session against Corruption, UNGASS 2021, to direct all countries to set up central, public registers of beneficial ownership.

He runs a community-driven anti-corruption social service “Clean House” to help the residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in housing societies where millions of people suffer because of rampant corruption and lawlessness. He has also formed an environment protection group called Green Group in New Delhi, which is the most polluted national capital in the world.

As Rakesh has been facing constant threats including death threats for his editorial and anti-corruption work, the Paris-based international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) that defends freedom of journalists has urged the Indian government to save him from threats and persecution. You can click here to download and read his full profile.

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About The Integrity Bulletin Project The Integrity Bulletin content project is being managed by RMN Foundation, which is the humanitarian initiative of RMN News Service. The Integrity Bulletin news magazine is being circulated among the top UN agencies, global anti-corruption organizations, international law-enforcement agencies, civil society organizations, lawmakers, social activists, politicians, and others in India and abroad.

As the founder of RMN Foundation and editor of RMN News Service, I am managing this project independently without any financial or other support. RMN News Service is looking for collaborators across the world who can join hands with it to carry out major campaigns and projects to engage with different stakeholders in the anti-corruption domain.

Contact

Rakesh Raman Founder RMN Foundation 463, DPS Apts., Plot No. 16, Sector 4 Dwarka, Phase I, New Delhi 110 078, INDIA Call: 9810319059 Contact by email

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