Jordan Times
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
King approves
Anti-Corruption Commission Law
Jordan to host First session of Conference of States Parties to the United
Nations Convention against Corruption from December 10 to 14
By Khalid Neimat
AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah issued on Monday a Royal Decree approving the
Anti-Corruption Commission Law, which was endorsed by Parliament in September.
Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs Muhyiddine Touq told reporters
during the weekly press conference yesterday that the law was enacted in
response to Article 6 in the UN Convention, which calls for “establishing an
independent commission to combat corruption in every member state.”
Under this law, an official body entrusted with combating corruption in the
public sector will be established in the Kingdom.
The commission will have a free mandate to pursue current and former officials
who are suspected of being involved in corruption.
The law stipulates that the commission will be autonomous, with its officials
enjoying absolute immunity from prosecution.
The law defines corruption as any act that violates official duties and all acts
related to wasta (favouritism) and nepotism that could deprive others from their
legitimate rights, as well as economic crimes and misuse of power.
A poll, conducted by the University of Jordan’s Centre for Strategic Studies
last month, showed that citizens believe that nepotism, fraud and graft have
steadily increased in both the public and private sectors.
Over 60 per cent of those polled believe that corruption is “rampant” within the
public sector, while over 50 per cent said it had also become more widespread in
the private sector.
In its annual Corruption Perceptions Index, which covers 163 countries,
Transparency International ranked Jordan 40, with a score of 5.3. The index
score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by
businesspeople and country analysts and ranges between zero, very corrupt, and
10, clean.
Meanwhile, Jordan will host the first session of the Conference of States
Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption from December 10 to
14, where participants will review the first year of the convention and consider
means to bolster international efforts to combat corruption.
Between 500-700 delegates from 125 countries will focus on mechanisms to enforce
compliance with the convention, asset recovery and technical assistance to build
national capacity to combat corruption, according to Touq.
Every year, over $1 trillion is paid in bribes globally, with devastating
consequences, particularly in the developing world, according to World Bank
estimates. Corruption diverts resources for health, education and infrastructure
away from those who need it most.
The convention addresses corruption in both the public and private sectors. It
requires countries to criminalise a wide range of acts including bribery,
embezzlement of public funds, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
The convention, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in October 2003 and
came into force on December 14, 2005, is the first legally binding international
anti-corruption tool.
So far, 140 states have signed the convention and 80 have ratified it to become
full-fledged parties.
Jordan, which ratified the convention on February 24, 2005, is among seven Arab
countries that are state parties to the convention: Egypt, Kuwait, Yemen,
Djibouti, Libya and Algeria.