7 December 2011

Fifth Regional Seminar on Good Governance for Southeast Asian Countries

PREVENTING CORRUPTION:
EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATIVE & CRIMINAL JUSTICE MEASURES

Haruhiko UKAWA, LL.M.
Deputy Director, UNAFEI

It is my pleasure to open the discussions at the Fifth Regional Seminar on Good Governancefor Southeast Asian Countries. Before going into this year’s seminar topic, let me provide a brief
introduction to the activities of UNAFEI and our Good Governance Seminar.
I. INTRODUCTION
UNAFEI1 is an international training and research institute in the field of crime prevention andcriminal justice, established in 1962 by agreement between the United Nations and theGovernment of Japan. A major focus of its activities is to provide training programmes forcriminal justice practitioners from around the world in a multinational format.
While the Japanese Government now bears the sole responsibility for administrative matterssuch as funding, facilities, and personnel, UNAFEI continues to be run under the joint auspicesof the United Nations and the Government of Japan, and it endeavours to assist in the sounddevelopment of criminal justice systems and international cooperation among UN MemberStates, particularly in the Asia and Pacific Region, in line with the UN Conventions and its
Standards and Norms.
Every year, UNAFEI offers four multinational training courses that last for five to six weeks, eachof which addresses a different subject. The spring course covers offender treatment; thesummer course is UNAFEI’s basic anti-corruption programme; the autumn course tackles
various criminal justice issues in investigation, prosecution, adjudication and internationalcooperation; and the winter course is called “The International Senior Seminar” and is designed
for senior officials.

1

United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders-1-In choosing the specific topic to be addressed in each programme, every effort is made toincorporate the priority issues identified by the United Nations. As a result, we find ourselvesmore frequently and regularly choosing topics related to the challenges posed by transnationalorganized crime and corruption.
This provides the background to the present seminar. The Good Governance Seminar is arecent initiative, begun in 2007, in order to enhance our capacity building and networking efforts
in the field of good governance and anti-corruption. Every year, we choose one topic of
substantive importance related to the UNCAC, 2 and invite participants from eight Southeast
Asian countries for discussion.
The topics for the first four seminars have been “Corruption Control in the Judiciary andProsecutorial Authorities”, “Corruption Control in Public Procurement”, “Asset Recovery andAnti-Money Laundering”, and “Measures to Secure Witness Protection/Co-operation,”
respectively. The first two seminars were held in Bangkok, in partnership with the Office of theAttorney General of the Kingdom of Thailand, and the next two were held in Manila, inpartnership with the Department of Justice of the Republic of the Philippines.
This year, for the first time, we chose Tokyo, the home of UNAFEI, as the seminar venue, andtook the opportunity to double the number of participants that we invite. Therefore, this year, wehave participants not only from general criminal justice authorities but also from specialized
anti-corruption agencies. Another advantage of this year’s format is that we were able invite anumber of speakers from Japanese government authorities. These features have enabled us toaddress issues and challenges that require multidisciplinary responses.
This brings us to this year’s seminar topic, “Preventing Corruption: Effective Administrative &Criminal Justice Measures.”
II. PREVENTING CORRUPTION
Corruption threatens the integrity of markets, undermines fair competition, distorts resource
allocation, destroys public trust, and undermines the rule of law. Corruption is a severe
impediment to economic growth, and a significant challenge for developed, emerging anddeveloping countries. --- G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan (2010)

Corruption undermines every legitimate goal that states strive so hard to achieve. It threatens

2United Nations Convention against Corruption-2-

the rule of law and democracy, impedes economic growth, and erodes the over all well-being ofa state as a whole.
Anti-corruption efforts require a whole governmental and multidisciplinary approach thatconsists of prevention (including awareness-raising/education) and enforcement. This notion isenshrined in the UNCAC, the first legally binding global anti-corruption instrument, which
devotes an entire chapter to preventive measures and another to criminal justice measures.
Of these two, it has been pointed out that, first and foremost, corruption requires prevention.
Why is prevention so important?
As a general principle, prevention is better than taking subsequent remedial measures, and thisis particularly true of corruption because it is difficult to detect and to prosecute after the fact.
Unlike crimes of violence, corruption leaves no readily identifiable traces such as bloodstains ordead bodies. On the contrary, offenders will employ sophisticated modus operandi andtechnology to hide their corrupt activities and the proceeds derived therefrom. Further,corruption takes place between guilty parties. There is no victim to come forward and file acomplaint; innocent or neutral witnesses are hard to come by; and the most corrupt andpowerful offenders will do everything to discourage witnesses and accomplices fromcooperating with the authorities. 3 The nature of the offence thus makes preventive efforts
essential.
It should be noted also that, while it may be difficult to prevent crimes that are committed in theheat of the moment, prevention works for corruption. We know where and under whatcircumstances corruption is likely to occur. Public sector corruption occurs in connection withgovernmental activities and involves government officials. Opportunities for corruption can belimited by promoting the efficiency, transparency, and accountability of governmental
businesses, and corruption risks can be reduced by improving the integrity of officials.
One particular area identified by the UNCAC as requiring special attention is public
procurement (Article 9). We invited speakers from the Japanese Fair Trade Commission andMinistry of Finance to explain how they ensure objectivity and competition in public procurement
and prevent corruption.

3

To remedy these difficulties, the UNCAC requires States parties to: introduce anti money-laundering
measures, including suspicious transaction reporting (article 14.1(a)); take appropriate witness protection
measures (article 32); consider adopting whistle-blower protection (article 33); and take appropriate
measures to encourage cooperation with the authorities (article 37).
-3-

With respect to the integrity of government officials, the UNCAC calls for adequate humanresource management (Article 7.1), and mentions codes of conduct (Article 8.2) and reporting
requirements (Article 8.3) for government officials. We invited speakers from the National
Personnel Authority and Financial Services Agency of Japan to offer examples of how they
endeavour to ensure staff integrity.
We also invited Ms. Jo Dedeyne-Amann from the UNODC, 4 and Mr. Joseph Lee Yat-Sau from
Hong Kong’s ICAC.5 The UNODC is the guardian of the UNCAC, and Ms. Dedeyne-Amann willtalk about the Convention and prevention of corruption in general. The ICAC is Hong Kong’s
anti-corruption authority, renowned for its success in keeping the Special Administrative Region
clean. You will hear Mr. Yat-Sau talk about the ICAC's strategies and measures for preventing
corruption in Hong Kong.

III. CRIMINAL ENFORCEMENT
Turning now to criminal enforcement, the critical question is this: If preventive measures andawareness-raising/education were appropriately implemented, would that make criminal justicemeasures unnecessary or less important?
The answer is “No.” At the risk of contradicting myself, I need to emphasize that criminal
punishment still is the key in the fight against corruption. Just think of the most corrupt andcriminally minded: preventive measures and education alone will not stop them from taking
advantage of their offices for personal gain. They will continue as long as the risks of detection
and punishment are small. We need to make corruption a high-risk crime, and the only way to
do that is to actually prosecute and punish those who commit corruption. In that sense, criminal
justice measures have a special effect in preventing corruption – in criminal law parlance, this isknown as “deterrence”.

Apart from providing specific and general deterrence, the significance of criminal enforcement ismanifold. It sends out a strong message that corruption will not be tolerated, and especiallywhen influential figures such as politicians or high ranking officials are prosecuted, it
demonstrates the political will and determination of the government to fight corruption. This inturn cultivates a culture of zero-tolerance and provides a basis for public education, especially
4

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

5

Independent Commission Against Corruption-4-

of the younger generation. Moreover, the investigation may reveal the shortcomings of theexisting system and give impetus for reform that would better prevent corruption. Two Japaneselaws, which you will hear about during this seminar, The National Public Service Ethics Act of1999 6 and the Involvement Prevention Act of 2002, 7 were enacted in the aftermath oflarge-scale scandals, and are examples of such reform efforts. They show that prevention andenforcement are interrelated and that they must go hand-in-hand.
.
IV. CONCLUSION
There is a global consensus that a total anti-corruption package consists of prevention,awareness raising/education, and enforcement. There are different approaches and varying
options regarding how countries design, mix, and implement these measures. To better preventand fight corruption, learning from other countries’ experiences and looking into emerging goodpractices should be particularly useful.8 This Seminar is intended as an opportunity to shareexperiences, exchange ideas, and a build a network of counterparts. Your fight is our fight, and I
hope the seminar will help you in your efforts to curb corruption.

6Act No.129 of 1999.

7Act on Elimination and Prevention of Involvement in Bid Rigging, etc. and Punishments for Acts byEmployees that Harm Fairness of Bidding, etc (Act No.101 of 2002).
8Paragraph 7 of Marrakech Declaration on the Prevention of Corruption (Oct. 2011), adopted at thefourth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the UNCAC, requests Member States to promotebilateral, regional and international activities to prevent corruption, including workshops for theexchange of relevant experiences and good practices.
-5-