Fighting corruption in Arab Spring countries

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)

By Dr Noureddine Miladi

One key demand for which people took to the streets in the Arab Spring countries back in 2011 was uprooting corruption.It was hoped that in that part of the world a serious attempt to stop all forms of unethical misconduct would have been set up.A simple definition of corruption according to ‘tranparency.org’ is ‘dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power typically involving bribery’. However the scope of such a concept in some parts of the Arab Spring countriesinvolves a wide array of fraudulent behaviour by those in poweras well asin private sector bodies.

Thanks to the Tunisian revolution we knew that ousted Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his family amassed billions from public funds in Tunisia Dinars as well as USA Dollars and other European currencies. Much of his wealth has been stashed abroad in Switzerland London France and Canada.

Also to the shock of the world the Libyan revolution revealed that Gaddafi owned over 100 billion dollars in addition to lavish castles which were discovered were for his family’s use while he pretended to lead a modest life (in an Arab tent).

Former Egyptian Minister of the Interior AdliMansoor is being tried for stealing over 2 billion dollars while in office after the Egyptian revolution of 25 January 2011.

According to a recent UN report Abdullah Salih has gathered more than 60 billion dollars during the last three decades of his rule which he currently invests to finance his militia that is causing havoc in Yemen.

During the Nouri Al Maliki rule in Iraq more than 100 billion dollars disappeared from the state fund while the government has had problems in paying its employees’ salaries.

Five years after the Arab Spring revolutionscorruption seemsto be on the increasein Tunisia Egypt Libya Iraq Syria and Yemen. These countries are becoming the worst in terms of the corruption index. The Corruption Perceptions Index 2015 has revealed that by the end of 2015 Iraq ranked 16 Syria 18 Egypt 36 and Tunisia 38.

However it is worth noting that has corruption soared due to various reasons. Firstly there wasa lack of stringent control mechanisms to monitor fraudulent conduct. Tax evasion in all sectors has been on the increase and bribes resurfaced again after disappearing albeit briefly during 2011 and 2012. Committees created for instance after the revolution in Tunisia were not fully supported by the government and parliament. Their reports tended to face fierce attacks by some ofthe media outlets and blocking from some legal quarters. What is worse is that the recommendations that appear in those reportsare not normally put into effect by the executive branch. Secondly the democratically elected governments such as in Tunisia have also so far nottaken rigorous measures to hold to account corrupt politicians state employees and well-known family members of ousted president Ben Ali who were accused of immense corruption.

Moreoverwhat can be dismalsometimes is the fact that Western powers have not been of much help in reducing corruption partly because they knew all about it in countries like Tunisia Egypt and Yemen before the revolutions and yet they sustained those regimes.

As a matter of fact the West has successfully built over the yearsvery robust anti-corruption measures and systems to fight all sorts of corruption internally. The media in Europe and the USA tend to reveal stories about scores of examples in terms of fighting bribery and all forms of unethical misconduct especially when it comes to the public sector. However these systems are not much adhered to when operating in third world countries. The USA involvement in Iraq for instance and the corruption scandals of the US backed government after 2003 is a case in point.

By the end of 2015the Corruption Perceptions Index 2015 revealed that Northern European countries such as Denmark Finland Sweden New Zealand Netherlands and Norway emerged as top in anticorruption. But having a ‘clean public sector at home’ says the report ‘doesn’t mean it isn’t linked to corruption elsewhere.Take Sweden for instance. It comes third in the index yet the Swedish-Finnish firm TeliaSonera – 37 per cent owned by the Swedish state – is facing allegations that it paid millions of dollars in bribes to secure business in Uzbekistan’.

On a final note for the Arab Spring countries to prosper and establish a just system they need to eradicate corruption through setting up sturdy mechanisms to fight corruption. Dictatorial regimes in Tunisia Egypt and Libya and Yemencreated systems of money laundering not easy for any investigation to break. Such systems entail the collaboration of law enforcement bodies government agencies parliament as well as civil society. Individuals who work in anti-corruption bodies should be well protected. Currently those who attempt to expose corruption get targeted and sometimes receive death threats.

The UK as with other European countries have been serious in working tounveil corrupt funds and report this back to the Arab Spring countries. However what is uncovered is only the tip of the iceberg. The new Swiss law known as the Restitution of Illicit Assets Act which took effect a couple of years ago and gives the Swiss government ‘more freedom of action to repatriate questionable funds’ is a move in the right direction. However this has not yet facilitated the release of large parts of funds illegally kept in Swiss banks by dictators such as Ben Ali Gaddafi and Mubarakamong scores of others.

Democratically elected governments in the Arab Spring countries should also inculcate the culture of transparency in society. This process starts from the educational system before it gets imparted to all realms of life. Fighting corruption and fraudulent conduct should eventually become the concern of not only the media the justice system and policy makers but also of civil society organisations education and indeed all citizens.