PREVENTING CORRUPTION: EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATIVE AND
CRIMINAL JUSTICE MEASURES

Mr. Sothimon Nuon*I. OVERVIEW
Corruption is a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries.
Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes togovernmental instability. Corruption takes place in all human societies and in all walks of life.
Cambodia is also experiencing this social phenomenon. The Royal Government ofCambodia does not turn a blind eye to this problem. The Royal Government is strongly committedto fighting corruption, formulating a separate anti-corruption law and empowering an independentanti-corruption mechanism.

II. BACKGROUNDThe Royal Government of Cambodia has paid much attention to combating corruption since
the UN organized general elections in 1993. In 1992, Cambodia adopted a criminal law act in which
three articles were related to corruption (embezzlement, bribe taking and bribe giving). In 1999, ananti-corruption mechanism was first established in Cambodia. It was called the “Unit Against
Corrupt Practices”. In 2006, the Unit was restructured and renamed the “Anti-Corruption Unit”.
On 17 April 2010, the first separate anti-corruption law was promulgated by the King.
The new law requires the establishment of an Anti-Corruption Institution. The AntiCorruption Institution is composed of the National Anti-Corruption Council and the AntiCorruption Unit (ACU). The Royal Government has been adopting a four-pronged approach:
Education, Prevention, Law Enforcement, and International Cooperation.
*Legal, Complaint and International Affairs Dept., Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), Cambodia.
- 122 -In its effort to combat corruption, the Royal Government adopted the Governance Action
Plan I and Governance Action Plan II, focusing on multi-sectoral reforms for the sake of social
development and justice. The Royal Government continues to view fighting corruption as a priority,
as mentioned in its Rectangular Strategy where Good Governance is the core element and fighting
corruption is in the first angle.
Samdech Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, stressed that “Fighting corruption isto make each individual not want to corrupt (education), can’t corrupt (prevention), and dare notcorrupt (law enforcement).”

III. PREVENTING CORRUPTION: EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATIVE AND CRIMINALJUSTICE MEASURES

A. Effective Institution
The characteristics of the effective institution are as follows:
The Anti-Corruption Institution is independent of other state institutions;
Separate and sufficient budgets are available for work performance;
It may request intervention and cooperation from armed force authority if necessary and isallowed to use guns in operations;
The corruption-related complaint receiving mechanism and its management are speedy;Special investigation power (article 27 of the Anti-Corruption Law): in the case of a clear hintof corruption offences, the Anti-Corruption Unit can:
¾ Check and put under observation bank accounts or other accounts which have the samefunction as bank accounts;¾ Check and order the provision or copy of authentic documents or individual documents,
or all bank, financial and commercial documents.
¾ Monitor, oversee, eavesdrop, record sound or take photos, and engage in phone tapping.

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¾ Check documents and documents stored in the electronic data systems.
Instead of public prosecutors, the President or officially assigned representative of the ACU has
the duty to lead, coordinate and control the mission of those officials (judicial police officers)
in the investigation of corruption offences, up to the point of arresting a suspect (article 25 ofAnti-Corruption Law).

B. Education Measures
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) focuses mainly on educative measures. So far the ACU
has done a great deal of dissemination of anti-corruption law, produced several anti-corruption
education centres, and organized several other anti-corruption events. These educational activities
are done on a regular basis.
Our law and regulation dissemination is aimed at the public in general and government civilservants in particular. The other target subjects are those working at border gates, finance-related
sectors, airports, ports, license issuing authorities, law enforcement agencies, etc. Today the ACU isplanning to produce more education centres, and organize more student debates and other anticorruption events (such as concerts and poetry contest for students).
People are now aware of the new law and anti-corruption institution, and are actively joining
hands in the fight against corruption. Their participation is reflected through the submission ofseveral complaints each day by the general public.

C. Preventive Measures
In addition to the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), the Royal Government of Cambodia also
created other bodies and mechanisms that contribute to combating corruption, as follows:
A National Audit Authority;
The Ministry of National Assembly-Senate Relation and Inspection;
The Inspectorate of the Ministry of Economy and Finance;- 124 -Internal Audit Departments of state institutions; andOther mechanisms of the Legislative Body.
The priority of the ACU, among other things, is to strengthen preventive policies andmeasures in order to remove opportunities for corruption. Preventive measures, unlike law
enforcement, are gentler and more effective. The preventive tools are as follows:
The Anti-Corruption Law and Criminal Code;The Law on Statute of Civil Servants;
A Code of Ethics for civil servants;
Laws in other areas; andOther relevant regulations.
The ACU has established its own Internal Investigation Section. The Section is responsiblefor investigating cases related to corruption within the Unit. All staff members working in thisSection work undercover and are not known to other staff members. They work independently andreport directly to the President of the ACU.
The ACU has taken several measures in terms of preventing corruption. The new law
requires all government employees with the rank of department director or higher to declare theirassets and liabilities. So far all employees have already made their asset declarations to the ACU,
including the Prime Minister, President of the National Assembly and President of the Senate. Focal
points of anti-corruption officials at various state ministries and institutions have also been set up inorder to facilitate asset declaration at their own agencies, and to help fight corruption therein.
Meanwhile, leaders of civil society are also obliged under the anti-corruption law to maketheir asset declaration. The ACU is considering requiring other officials ranking below director
level who work in such vulnerable areas as the financial sector to declare their assets too.
The ACU has distributed many corruption-related complaint forms to civil servants and thegeneral public throughout the country so as to facilitate their complaint submission. The form is- 125 -indeed a tool to encourage public participation in revealing all forms of corruption. As a result, now
more and more complaints are being lodged with the ACU.
The ACU is also invited to take part in several government events, especially thegovernment employee recruitment exam process with the aim of ensuring transparency andpreventing opportunities for corruption. Recently, the ACU took part in the recruitment process oftax collecting officials for the General Department of Taxation and in inspecting the bidding
process for illegal timber. The participation was welcomed by the public as a whole and has built
more confidence in the government.

D. Effective Administration
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) facilitates the public participation in the fight against
corruption by creating an effective mechanism so as to encourage corruption-related complaint
submission. The public can submit their complaints in person, drop their complaints in ACU boxes,
through electronic forms, post offices nearby free of charge, or sent to the ACU by other agencies.
Other forms of reporting complaints can also be done through our phone, fax, email, etc.
The ACU is redesigning corruption complaint forms to further facilitate the public reportingof corruption. This complaint form enables complainants to fill in all necessary information theACU needs. Under the anti-corruption law article 31 stipulates that, “all corruption cases lodged
with the court shall be heard quickly.”
The ACU is setting up a complaint analysis center in order to speed up the complaintprocess lodged by the public. This center is to review and study all complaints, and finally makesuggestions to the President of ACU for decision before taking any action.

E. Criminal Justice Measures
So far, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has:

- 126 -Cracked down on corruption cases committed by very senior officials in the Anti-DrugHeadquarters, provincial police commissariats, the prosecutor’s office, a prison etc., and all
were sent to court for prosecution;
Disciplined around 30 tax officials for their bad performance;
Cracked down on financial irregularities committed by officials in the Ministry of Social
Affairs and provincial Departments of Social Affairs throughout the country, who embezzled
individual benefits and from the state budget. The ACU has already disciplined those involved.
Reduced opportunities for corruption and brought more people, regardless of status, to trial;
Studied and investigated many corruption cases;
Continued to investigate more people, especially government officials.

F. UNCAC Compliance
The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only legally binding,universal anti-corruption instrument. The Convention's far-reaching approach and the mandatory
character of many of its provisions make it a unique tool for developing a comprehensive response
to a global problem. The UNCAC covers five main areas: prevention, criminalization and law
enforcement measures, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance andinformation exchange.
Cambodia has worked hand in hand with the international community to fight corruption.
Thus far, Cambodia has:
Been a member of ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiatives for Asia and the Pacific since 2003;
Been a State Party to the UNCAC since 2007;
Been a party to South East Asia Parties Against Corruption (SEAPAC) since 2007, andRegularly attended meetings of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities(IAACA).

- 127 -With great success, Cambodia hosted the 6th SEAPAC annual meeting in November 2010,
which was attended by 9 ASEAN members.
So far Cambodia has met many provisions of the UNCAC. Cambodia has adopted a separate
anti-corruption law,1 created an independent anti-corruption institution, established easy access interms of corruption complaints to the public, and adopted the four-pronged approach, namelyeducation, prevention, law enforcement and international cooperation, in combating corruption.
In terms of information exchange, the ACU has done a lot to share information withSEAPAC members, both in the field of administration work and corruption related cases. ACU staff
received technical training from various countries, especially SEAPAC members.
Under the new anti-corruption law of Cambodia, all acts that were not criminalized ascorruption offences are now criminalized. Zero tolerance measures are also strictly implemented.
Offenders are prosecuted, regardless of their social status or political alignment.
Now Cambodia and Vietnam are working towards signing a Bilateral Memorandum on
Study Tour Exchange, planned to be made once a year in order to learn from one another in terms of
new knowledge and experience of combating corruption. Recently, 20 Cambodian anti-corruption
youths made a study tour to Japan in order to exchange experiences with Japanese youths.
At the moment, the ACU is cooperating with one country to investigate a foreign corrupt
offender coming into Cambodia, suspected of traversing or staying in Cambodia. The case is being
strictly and closely followed by the ACU.

IV. CONCLUSION
Though Cambodia has enjoyed full peace for only a short time, the Royal Government ofCambodia, under the clear-sighted leadership of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, has maderemarkable progress in all fields, especially in enhancing Cambodian prestige in the international
arena.

1

Fifty-five articles related to corruption offences, of which 40 articles stipulated in the Criminal Code.

- 128 -Cambodian progress today cannot be alienated from international cooperation and the Royal
Government’s strong commitment in strengthening good governance and fighting corruption.
Fighting corruption is a key to ensuring equitable division of social resources and to attracting
foreign investment.
Cambodia continues to cooperate closely with the international community, especially
SEAPAC members, to combat corruption. Despite many challenges, the ACU continues to work
untiringly to promote integrity, transparency, accountability and prosperity in Cambodian society.
The ACU is strongly committed to cooperating with the regional and international communities inorder to share new experiences and knowledge, and to join hands in fighting corruption for a betterworld.

Thanks for your kind attention!

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