NEW DELHI, Apr 27: Representatives from Uganda and Kazakhstan will visit here in June to review India’s fight against corruption by assessing efforts being taken to check bribery in private sector and by foreign public officials.
The visit is part of mandatory obligation under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), a universal legal instrument to deal with the menace of corruption.
“The representatives from Uganda and Kazakhstan will be visiting India between June 24-26 as per the requirements under the UNCAC,” a senior official in Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.
The representatives will assess the anti-corruption laws and other legislative steps being taken by the Government here to check graft, he said.
The delegation is also likely to interact with officials of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and other law enforcement agencies besides visiting their headquarters, the official said.
The review by two other member nations was due after the ratification of UNCAC by India on May 9, 2011
“A large number of documents in the form of questionnaire and supporting documents have been shared with the United Nations and the representatives of the visiting nations,” he said.
As per Article 12 of the UNCAC, each state party shall take measures to prevent corruption involving the private sector, enhance accounting and auditing standards for it and provide effective, proportionate and dissuasive civil, administrative or criminal penalties for failure to comply with such measures.
The member countries are also expected to take measures to prevent money laundering, bribery of foreign public officials and those of public international organisations, freezing, seizure and confiscation of crime proceeds and protection of witnesses, experts and victims, among others under the UNCAC provisions.
The UN convention requires the parties to it to provide measures, legal and administrative, for prevention of corruption; for treating certain acts relating to corruption as criminal offences and providing for sanctions against them and for facilitating recovery of assets in trans-border corruption.
Besides, it calls for promoting the widest possible international cooperation in combating trans-border corruption through measures facilitating mutual legal assistance, extradition and joint investigation.
The UNCAC covers five main areas–prevention, criminalisation and law enforcement measures, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange.
India is among at least 164 nations which have either ratified or acceded to the UNCAC provisions.
The DoPT had in May 2012 floated a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the holding of a self-evaluation study by independent experts on India’s compliance with UNCAC.
However, in October 2012, it had decided to “close” the proposal for holding of the study for want of a minimum of three qualifying applicants. DoPT had again in January, 2013 decided to conduct the study and had issued a fresh RFP for the same.
But the second attempt, too, drew no takers who fulfilled the eligibility criteria mentioned in the RFP. DoPT thereafter again cancelled the proposal. (PTI)
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