The Integrity Bulletin June 2019

Say No to Corruption

The Integrity Bulletin June 2019

India’s First Anti-Corruption Ombudsman Lokpal

An Editorial Initiative of Raman Media Network Editor: Rakesh Raman

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

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Main Stories in This Issue

Learning

Free Course on Essentials of Anti-Corruption Rent-Seeking in Bureaucratic Corruption Tax Justice Network Conference 2019

Law and Policy

Corruption Cases

Letter to Arvind Kejriwal to Stop Corruption Is Modi a Culprit in Rafale Corruption Case?

Bureaucratic Corruption Case Study in Delhi

Message from the UN Chief António Guterres EU4Justice Project to Combat Corruption Reasons for Increasing Corruption in India

Awareness

New Program to Combat Corruption in Georgia India’s First Anti-Corruption Ombudsman Lokpal Connecting Police for a Safer World

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Free Online Course on Essentials of Anti-Corruption The course presents different entry points to anti-corruption that cover both implicit and explicit approaches.

This free-of-charge, one-hour, self-paced online course (Essentials of Anti-Corruption I: The Basics) is being offered by U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre.

Photo: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre The purpose of the course is to give learners a basic knowledge of core concepts in the field of corruption and anti-corruption. It covers a range of topics, including: Definitions​: This explains different types of corruption (such as bribery, embezzlement, trading in influence, ​sextortion​) as well as the difference between a conflict of interest and corruption.

Measurement and Assessments​: In this section learners consider the difference between perception and experience-based tools, corruption risk assessments, administrative data, and multi-country corruption indices. They are trained to assess the scope of corruption in a given context.

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Basics of Anti-Corruption Programming​: Finally, the course presents different entry points to anti-corruption that cover both implicit and explicit approaches.

INTERPOL World: Connecting Police for a Safer World The event will host a series of INTERPOL working groups focusing on innovation, artificial intelligence, drones, and darknet cryptocurrencies.

INTERPOL World is a global co-creation opportunity which engages the public and private sectors in dialogue, and fosters collaboration to counter future security and policing challenges.

INTERPOL World The event to be held July 2-4, 2019 comprises interlinked activities including a series of niche and targeted platforms for knowledge exchange culminating in strategic co-creation labs to discuss the challenges and solutions for combating the crimes of the future.

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It also includes an exhibition that serves as a business and networking event for manufacturers, distributors, and R&D organizations to offer products and technologies to public and private entities involved in law enforcement, security, and related industries.

INTERPOL World will also host a series of INTERPOL working groups focusing on innovation, artificial intelligence​, drones, and darknet cryptocurrencies.

Police, public, security professionals, and commercial buyers from around the world will convene in Singapore to forge mutually beneficial alliances leading to faster, more accurate responses to global security and public safety threats.

INTERPOL’s Innovation Centre seeks to operate based on the mandate of providing Strategic Foresight to anticipate potential developments of impact to policing, and identifying innovative practices and trends of positive value.

It also plays a key role in building effective and sustainable public and private alliances to facilitate the identification and co-creation of concrete solutions to emerging and future security challenges through Applied Innovation.

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SPECIAL REPORT

Is Narendra Modi a Culprit in Rafale Corruption Case?

Since the Indian courts and law-enforcement agencies do not work independently, it is believed that Modi is evading prosecution.

By​ Rakesh Raman The Supreme Court of India in its hearing on Rafale corruption case asked the government why an FIR (First Information Report prepared by police) has not been registered on a corruption complaint made to the Central Bureau of Investigation (​CBI​) in October last year to investigate the 36 Rafale jets deal.

Justice K.M. Joseph suggested government Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal on May 10 that an FIR should have been registered according to the law when the complaint was made. At the end of the

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hearing, the Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi​, reserved the Rafale review petitions for judgment.

Congress leaders protesting against PM Narendra Modi and the Rafale deal on February 13, 2019 (file photo). Photo: Congress The Indian government has been trying to scuttle the case by hook or by crook because Prime Minister (PM)​ Narendra Modi​ is believed to be the prime accused in the Rafale corruption scandal.

Earlier, a bench of Chief Justice Gogoi, Justice S. K. Kaul, and K. M. Joseph had decreed that the review petitions filed by former Indian ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie along with lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan will be heard in the open court.

Along with the review petitions, the Court also had decided to hear the correction petition filed by the Central Government, and also the petition filed for initiating perjury proceedings against officials who allegedly ​misled the Court​ by submitting false information in the notes submitted to the Court.

As Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been openly blaming Modi for corruption in the Rafale deal, Congress party alleges that since it is a case of Section 13(1)(d) in the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, an FIR must be registered against Modi. The Congress president even calls Modi a “thief” for stealing Rs. 30,000 crore (~ US$ 4 billion) in the Rafale deal which was handled by Modi in a shady manner.

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Since Modi and his party BJP have not taken any legal action against Rahul Gandhi who has been calling Modi a thief with the slogan “चौक दार चोर है ” or Modi is a thief, it appears that Modi was involved in the embezzlement of funds in the Rafale deal.

Twitter is also flooded with reactions that target Modi with the hashtag #Mera_PM_Chor_Hai (my PM is a thief) which is based on a popular dialogue in a Hindi film ​Deewar​.

Rahul Gandhi says that if an independent inquiry is conducted in the Rafale case, Modi will be jailed.

However, since the Indian ​courts and law-enforcement agencies do not work independently, it is believed that Modi is evading prosecution.

When Modi is asked about his involvement in the Rafale scandal, instead of addressing specific queries he starts accusing Rahul Gandhi’s father and a former PM Rajiv Gandhi who had died in 1991. If Modi believes he is not a thief, he should appear in a public hearing which should be live-streamed.

But he won’t face any independent inquiry because Modi perhaps knows he is not innocent. He has been ruling as a ​dictator who cannot be questioned by the judiciary or investigating agencies. Now it is being observed that under Modi’s 5-year rule, India has become a kakistocracy where the government is under the control of the worst, least qualified, and most unscrupulous people.

Most people believe that India’s neighboring country Pakistan is a true democracy where the Supreme Court of Pakistan removed PM Nawaz Sharif from office on corruption charges and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Pakistan is not the only country that deals with corruption sternly. Operation Car Wash, for example, is an ongoing criminal investigation being carried out by the Federal Police of Brazil, Curitiba Branch to probe the largest corruption scandal in the history of Latin America.

The President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (​Lula​) was sentenced to 12 years in prison and jailed in April 2018 on charges of money laundering and passive corruption. He is the first President of Brazil who was arrested for corruption.

Also, in 2015 Lee Wan-koo, prime minister of South Korea, resigned after being embroiled in a corruption scandal when his name appeared in a suicide note of a construction tycoon who accused the PM of receiving bribe from him. Lee Wan-koo initially dismissed the charges and refused to vacate his position. However, he later apologized for the wrongdoing and resigned.

Similarly, it was expected that Modi would resign from his PM position because he is not able to defend his case honestly in courts. Modi and his colleagues have been offering baseless arguments about the Rafale deal, but they could never present facts that could absolve Modi of the crime.

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As Modi and his party BJP have won the 2019 Lok Sabha election​, the Rafale corruption case will be mercilessly hushed up and Modi will claim he has been fully exonerated, as he did before in the Gujarat riots​ case when about 2,000 Muslims were killed.

As the chief minister of Gujarat, Modi was an accused in the 2002 case of mass murder, but he was given a clean chit. Although the Supreme Court of India has indicated that it will reopen Modi’s Gujarat riots case after the Lok Sabha election, he will never get punished. The less said about the Indian courts, the better.

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EU4Justice Project Gets € 2.2 Million to Combat Corruption The project will help improve the cooperation between prosecution and law enforcement agencies to increase the efficiency of investigations in organized crime and corruption cases.

Within the scope of the continuous EU support to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s the Rule of Law sector, the European Union officially launched on May 16 the new project ‘EU4Justice: Support to the Fight against Organized Crime and Corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)’ with the amount of EUR 2.2 million.

The project is implemented in partnership with the GIP Justice International Cooperation (JCI) from France and aims at enhancing efficiency of ​investigation and prosecution of serious corruption and organized crime cases through intensified cooperation along the criminal justice chain. This is a two-year project, which starts in 2019 and will run until January 2021.

“Corruption and organized crime in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a big problem that needs to be tackled, and you do not really need the European Union to tell you so. This is a top priority for the European Union, not only in BiH but in the whole region,” underlined Mr. Khaldoun Sinno, Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to BiH. Judiciary institutions throughout BiH will be involved in the implementation, including the High Judicial Prosecutorial Council, Prosecutors’ Offices, Courts, Ministries of Justice, and Law Enforcement Agencies.

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The project aims to enhance the effectiveness, integrity, and professionalism of the institutions in the Rule of Law sector in BiH. It will help improve the cooperation between prosecution and law enforcement agencies to increase the efficiency of investigations in organized crime and corruption cases. It will also strengthen capacities regarding human resources and performance management as well as disciplinary frameworks and procedures.

EU4Justice: Support to the Fight against Organized Crime and Corruption The project will improve current practice and results in forfeiting criminal assets. In addition, it will implement tracking mechanism for improving mutual access to criminal case files by law enforcement agencies, prosecutors’ offices, and courts.

The GIP- JCI, an organization which is in charge of this project​, is the implementing body of the French Ministry of Justice. It enlists the expertise of the French legal community: judges, prosecutors, Law Enforcement Agencies, and the National Training School (ENM).

The Project Team will also resort to the French FIU (TRACFIN) the Agency for Seizure and Confiscation (AGRASC); and the National Financial Prosecution Service that deals with the most serious criminal investigations related to economic and financial offenses.

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Website of India’s First Anti-Corruption Ombudsman Lokpal Opens The process of notifying the rules and regulations including the format for receiving complaints at Lokpal is being developed.

The website of India’s first anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal was inaugurated on May 16 by the Chairperson, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, in the presence of all the Members of Lokpal.

Swearing-in Ceremony of the Lokpal Members. Photo: Lokpal The website has been developed by government’s National Informatics Centre (NIC) and provides the basic information with respect to the working and functioning of the Lokpal.

The Lokpal is the first institution of its kind in independent India, established under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 to inquire and investigate into allegations of ​corruption against public functionaries who fall within the scope and ambit of this Act. The government had appointed Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose as the first Chairperson of the Lokpal who was administered the oath on March 23, 2019 by the President of India.

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The government has also appointed four Judicial and four non-Judicial Members. The office of Lokpal is functioning temporarily from the Hotel Ashok, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.

The process of notifying the rules and regulations including the format for receiving complaints at Lokpal is being developed. It is stated that all complaints which were received till April 16, 2019 have been examined by the office of Lokpal and disposed accordingly. The complaints received thereafter are under examination.

Appeal for Donations RMN Foundation is a humanitarian organization that was formed in May 2015 as an educational and public charitable Trust for the benefit of humanity at large.

It is registered with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi at New Delhi, India.

Currently, all the activities of RMN Foundation are being managed single-handedly (without any support) by RMN Foundation founder Rakesh Raman who had left his job a few years ago to run this charity.

As RMN Foundation has embarked upon some major humanitarian projects during the past over 3 years, now it needs a significant amount of funds in the form of ​donations to expand the scope of its activities.

Individual Indian donors can help RMN Foundation with their contributions using the following bank details:

Bank Name: ICICI Bank Bank Branch: HL Square, Plot No. 6, Sector 5 (MLU), Dwarka, New Delhi 110 075 Account Number: 025005004368 Account Name: RMN Foundation Type of Account: Current IFSC Code: ICIC0000250 Or you can c ​ lick here​ to donate with PayPal, credit card, or bank account.

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Reasons for Increasing Corruption in India These are some of the reasons because of which corruption is increasing exponentially in India.

Weak and Complicated Laws. Unskilled Law-Enforcement Officers. Faulty Complaint Handling Mechanism. Archaic Administrative Systems. Bureaucratic Inefficiency. Limited Use of Technology.

12 Steps to Deal with Corruption in India

Today, no government in India is willing to stop corruption because it has become the lifeblood of Indian bureaucrats and politicians.

However, in order to avert a situation of imminent civil unrest because of corruption in the country, the judiciary and law-enforcement agencies must take these 12 preventive steps - at least. You can ​click here to know the 12 steps to stop corruption in India.

Corruption Case Study in Delhi The bureaucrats try to satisfy the aggrieved complainants by responding with useless letters without punishing the culprits.

As massive corruption is happening openly in Delhi’s cooperative group housing societies (​CGHS​) where millions of people live, this case study explains how government officials have legitimized graft and there is no government agency in the city-state that can stop this increasing crime.

The Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of Delhi Government and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) - which are among the most corrupt departments of Delhi - are brazenly committing acts of

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corruption in connivance with the corrupt managing committee (MC) members of housing societies.

Together, they are running a government-sponsored corruption racket in Delhi.

While the residents of Delhi have been suffering under extreme bureaucratic corruption, the bureaucrats try to satisfy the aggrieved complainants by responding with useless letters without punishing the culprits. In order to protect the accused, the bureaucrats also delay their decisions in corruption cases.

Central Vigilance Commission of India With the help of a new petition addressed to the Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), this ​case study highlights the enormity of corruption in a housing society and urges India’s top anti-corruption departments to register an FIR (First Information Report) in this case for starting the inquiry.

The petition is filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) and other provisions of IPC with the prayer to start criminal proceedings against the RCS officials, DDA officials, and others.

You can ​click here​ to study the case including the exhibits.

For Your Information Rent-Seeking The concept of rent-seeking applies to corruption by bureaucrats who solicit and extract "bribe" or "rent" for using their legal but discretionary authority for awarding legitimate or illegitimate benefits to clients or citizens. Rent-seeking is directly related to bureaucratic corruption.

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Open Letter to Arvind Kejriwal to Stop Corruption in Delhi Corruption is so rampant in every government department of Delhi that it is almost impossible to get even the genuine work done without bribing the government officials.

To Mr. Arvind Kejriwal Chief Minister Delhi May 28, 2019 Dear Mr. Kejriwal, Although you repeatedly claim in your speeches that there is no corruption in Delhi, the fact is that corruption is spreading like a pandemic disease at every step in Delhi.

Along with my other anti-corruption activities, I run a community service “​Clean House​” to report about corruption cases in Delhi’s cooperative group housing societies (CGHS) where millions of people live.

People tell me that corruption is so rampant in every government department that it is almost impossible to get even the genuine work done without bribing the government officials.

And particularly the office of the Registrar Cooperative Societies (​RCS​) is running an organized corruption racket in connivance with the corrupt managing committee (MC) members of housing societies.

Now, Delhi Fire Service (​DFS​) and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) have also become part of the crime as they are allowing floor area ratio (​FAR​) construction which is spreading lethal dust and noise pollution in housing societies. The total corruption money involved in FAR construction is estimated to be thousands of crores of rupees.

You usually say that you have no control over ​DDA​. But why can’t you stop massive corruption at RCS office – which I have learnt uses external agents to accept bribes from MC members of societies and others to allow corruption? The RCS officials deliberately delay and scuttle corruption ​inquiries of corrupt housing societies.

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The corruption at RCS office has become a lucrative business for top government officers who are appointed for short periods of time for making quick money and then replaced with new officers to evade accountability.

You are well aware of extreme corruption at RCS office as a former Registrar J.B. Singh and his predecessor Shurbir Singh have been the ​target of a Delhi Assembly Committee probe for an alleged Rs. 100-crore scam in Delhi Nagrik Sehkari Bank. But the case was hushed up.

Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister, Delhi Most people know that the RCS office has a long history of corruption and reportedly many of its officers have been caught and jailed even by the Central Bureau of Investigation (​CBI​) in corruption cases.

Now, in response to my comprehensive complaints, the Directorate of Vigilance, Delhi Government has directed the Chief Vigilance Officer of DDA and Secretary (Cooperation), Cooperative Societies Department of Delhi Government respectively to hold inquiries against Udai Pratap Singh (IAS, Retd.), former Vice Chairman, DDA; J.B. Singh (IAS, Retd.), former Registrar RCS; and Jayadev Sarangi (IAS, Retd.), former Registrar RCS. As your government is not willing to stop corruption, I am doing your work and trying to expose corruption in Delhi. Mr. Kejriwal, if you, your cooperative minister, and other colleagues are not able to stop corruption at RCS office, it shows your complicity in the criminal act.

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You can’t always crib that you are not being allowed to work by some imaginary external forces. If you really want to stop corruption at RCS office and you are not being heard by the bureaucrats, you should go and sit on a dharna in front of the RCS office. I will accompany you.

In order to understand the extent of corruption in Delhi, you should go through the ​report that I have prepared to reveal extreme corruption in FAR projects of cooperative group housing societies (CGHS).

You can study it and instruct RCS officials to immediately stop FAR construction in all housing societies of Delhi. The corrupt RCS officials will object to your instruction by saying that they can’t stop construction because it comes under DDA. You can assert that since it’s a CGHS issue, RCS office must stop construction. Don’t behave like a helpless soul in front of these corrupt bureaucrats.

Please DO NOT simply forward this email to your colleagues and I urge you to take an instant action (today itself) at your own desk by taking punitive action against RCS officials. As it should be a transparent action, you should release a press note on the action that you are taking. Please don’t feel scared.

This will be a good first step for you after nearly 5 years of your beleaguered government to actually weed out corruption from Delhi. If you think so, I can help you remove corruption from the RCS office by making a stepwise plan. Then you can emulate this model to stop corruption at other government offices.

Hope you understand, because time is quickly running out for you and your government.

From Rakesh Raman,​ who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.

Write for The Integrity Bulletin RMN Foundation - the humanitarian organization in India - has launched The Integrity Bulletin which is a monthly newsletter on global corruption news and issues. Currently, the newsletter project is being managed by Mr. Rakesh Raman who is a national award-winning journalist and founder of RMN Foundation.

The Integrity Bulletin ​invites anti-corruption organizations, social activists, professionals, and experts to contribute their editorial articles for the newsletter. You may please submit the articles with your brief profile to Mr. Rakesh Raman (Email: contact@rmnfoundation.org). People from all across the world are also invited to ​participate​ as volunteers in this project.

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New Program to Combat Corruption in Georgia The Committee is comprised of the representatives of key beneficiary institutions and the representatives of the EU Delegation to Georgia.

The First Steering Committee Meeting of the EU/CoE (Council of Europe) Partnership for Good Governance Project on “Enhancing the systems of prevention and combating corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing in Georgia” (PGG II-GE) was organized on 28 May 2019.

Photo: Council of Europe During the meeting, the Committee members took stock of the results achieved in the first phase of the program, and discussed priority actions for 2019 and their timelines of the current Project.

The Committee is comprised of the representatives of key beneficiary institutions and the representatives of the EU Delegation to Georgia. The PGG II-GE is one of the six projects which constitute the second phase of the EU/CoE Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) program interventions to support Eastern Partnership countries to counter economic crime.

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Legal Content Development Services for Law Firms The need for quality content is more pronounced in today’s digitally driven business world where consumers are already facing an information overload from multiple data sources and a surfeit of frontend devices.

Consequently, legal professionals and law firms are struggling to create engaging content that could help them expand their businesses and scope of services.

In order to survive and thrive in the cut-throat legal business, law firms must work in collaboration with information domain experts who can create custom content for all their legal documentation and marketing needs.

You can ​click here to download​ and study a brief content creation proposal.

Tax Justice Network Conference 2019 The Tax Justice Network is an independent international network.

The conference will focus on qualitative and quantitative research that explores the role and the influence of the enablers, and innovative proposals for their better regulation.

Additional topics include tax competition and the race to the bottom, tax justice and human rights, financial secrecy, scale of revenue losses, and whistleblowers. The conference will take place in London on July 2-3, 2019.

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The Tax Justice Network is an independent international network that deals with a range of issues related to tax, tax havens, and financial globalization.

Message from the UN Chief Corruption undermines the rule of law and abets crimes.

Corruption is an assault on the values of the United Nations.

Corruption robs societies of schools, hospitals, and other vital services, drives away foreign investment and strips nations of their natural resources.

It undermines the rule of law and abets crimes such as the illicit trafficking of people, drugs, and arms. Also, tax evasion, money laundering, and other illicit flows divert much-needed resources for sustainable development.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres

Meet the Editor The editor of ​The Integrity Bulletin ​Rakesh Raman is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. 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).

Nowadays, for the past about 8 years, he has been running his own global news services on different subjects. He also has formed a free Education and Career Counselling Center for deserving children at a poor J.J. Colony in Dwarka, New Delhi under his ​NGO​ – RMN Foundation.

He runs an exclusive community-driven anti-corruption social service “​Clean House​” to help the suffering residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice. He also has formed an environment-protection group called​ Green Group​ in Delhi.

He creates and distributes a number of ​digital publications that cover areas such as technology, law, environment, education, politics, corruption and transparency. He created a comprehensive online information ​service​ to educate the Indian voters for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

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

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brand marketing and business development.

About The Integrity Bulletin Project The Integrity Bulletin content project is being carried out by RMN Foundation. ​The Integrity Bulletin newsletter is being circulated among the top anti-corruption organizations, law-enforcement agencies, civil society organizations, social activists, politicians, and others in India and abroad.

RMN Foundation is looking for collaborators across the world who can join hands with us 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

Contact by email

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