inside the glass house

Well-oiled Lanka slithers out of anti-corruption treaty
NEW YORK-- The London Economist once recounted the story of an Indian businessman who devised what he thought was an ingenious strategy to bribe a cabinet minister in return for a lucrative contract. As he sat down before the minister pleading for his contract, the businessman furtively slipped a wallet onto the floor.

Pretending he had found something belonging to the minister, he then picked up the wallet himself and said: "Sir, I think you have dropped your wallet with 100,000 rupees in it." The minister, not to be outdone by the businessman, replied: "Oh, yes. I did lose my wallet. But I remember having 500,000 rupees in it."

Both the bribe giver and the bribe taker had signalled their messages to each other in precise language clearly understandable to both. A foreign investor in Colombo, who listened to the story last week, said that bribery is much more blatant in Sri Lanka where nothing moves until the government machinery is well-oiled by greasy palms.
The subtleties of the Indian technique are not for Sri Lanka where most politicians take corruption for granted.

A former left wing politician once told parliament that the government of the day got its language mangled when it decided to "stamp" corruption instead of "stamping out."
And so it is not surprising that Sri Lanka was not one of the 95 signatories to the world's first international treaty against corruption which was up for signature at a high-level conference in Mexico two weeks ago.

Sri Lanka, where bribery has permeated high levels of government, has apparently decided to cold-shoulder the convention. Or have second thoughts about signing it.
As one Sri Lankan UN official in New York said last week: "Perhaps bribery is so widespread in Sri Lanka that we cannot make a legal commitment to curb it."
Historically, every government in Sri Lanka has assumed power with the best of intentions: reduce poverty, increase employment, boost economic growth, and more importantly, eliminate corruption.

But every newly elected government winds up being more corrupt than its predecessor. The present government, which is no exception to the rule, has gone one better: it has refused to sign the first-ever global treaty outlawing corruption. Perhaps the only consolation is that Sri Lanka can take the moral high ground compared to Indonesia under the late President Suharto where you were entitled to a receipt everytime you bribed a government official.

The dubious distinction of being the world's most corrupt nations goes to Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Is Sri Lanka not far behind?. The treaty, which Sri Lanka has not signed, needs ratification by 30 countries before it can enter into force. The ratification process is expected to be speedy judging by the fact that one country-- Kenya-- ratified the treaty immediately after signing it.

The new Kenyan government has already uncovered a massive $1 billion corruption trail left behind by the former government of President Daniel arap Moi whose officials are accused of investing in two hotels in London with their ill-gotten gains. The importance of the convention, according to one UN official, is that even if you run from the site of your corrupt deeds, the new treaty makes it difficult to hide.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, says that the new treaty makes a major breakthrough by also requiring the UN's 191 member states to return assets obtained through corruption to the country from which they were stolen. The billions of dollars looted from the government treasury by the late Nigerian head of state General Sani Abacha are lying in British and Swiss banks. The current Nigerian government has estimated that Abacha's stolen assets in foreign banks total a staggering $2.2 billion.

Raul Salinas, a brother of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas, has been accused of diverting over $130 million of government funds into US, British and Swiss banks.
So has former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman (about $100 million) and former President Omar Bongo of Gabon ($52 million). Last week, Aleman was given a 20-year jail sentence after he was found guilty of corruption.Also last week, Zambian President Frederick Chiluba was hauled before courts on corruption charges.

Annan says that corrupt officials will, in future, find fewer ways to hide their illicit gains. "This is a particularly important issue for many developing countries where corrupt officials have plundered the national wealth and where new governments badly need resources to reconstruct and rehabilitate their societies." Will Sri Lankan politicians remain immune as the government shies away from the anti-corruption treaty?

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