www.transparency.org www.cmi.no Corruption in Pakistan Query Please provide information about the key sectors affected by corruption in Pakistan, recent initiatives to tackle it, and local institutions and people involved in anti-corruption work. Please also provide any recent corruption diagnostic or survey material available on Pakistan. Purpose 1 Key sectors affected by To prepare for a forthcoming visit to Pakistan corruption in Pakistan and diagnostic material Content To fully respond to the question as to which sectors are most affected by corruption, both quantitative (through 1. Key sectors affected by corruption in diagnostic material) and qualitative (through reports and Pakistan and diagnostic material direct questioning of international and national experts) 2. Reform initiatives sources have been consulted. Nevertheless, it is worth bearing in mind that some of the reasons that particular 3. Further resources sectors are highlighted more often than others are due not only to objective merits but also to the facts that i) Summary there is more research and survey work done in those areas and ii) public perception and awareness seem to be more vocal as regards those areas. Thus, the exercise of highlighting some of the sectors should be read with the knowledge that corruption in Pakistan seems pervasive across most sectors. With that in mind, it is safe to say that expert sources indicate that the following sectors are among those most affected by corruption (the particular order varies from source to source): Police and law enforcement Judiciary and legal profession Author(s): Anna Hakobyan, Transparency International Reviewed by: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre Date: 9 June 2004 Number: 43 U4 Expert Answers provide targeted and timely anti-corruption expert advice to U4 partner agency staff www.U4.no Corruption in Pakistan Power sector A household survey released by TI in December 2002, Tax and customs reported high levels of corruption in public institutions in Health and education South Asia. Of the seven major public institutions, the Land administration police emerged as the most corrupt in all five countries In addition, Public Procurement seems to be a surveyed (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri major concern across most sectors Lanka). The judiciary was identified as the second most corrupt area in all countries except Pakistan, where These sectors seem to be affected by chains of: land administration and the tax authorities were petty corruption to access public services or to identified as the second and third most corrupt areas bypass the law (through the direct interaction respectively. Land administration figures prominently in of citizens with the respective authorities and the list of the most corrupt sectors in four out of the five bribe-paying) countries. The TI report identifies high levels of middle and grand corruption (through corruption encountered by citizens attempting to access corruption in public contracting and seven basic public services. procurement as well as direct misappropriation http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/200 of public funds by senior officials). 2/2002.12.17.south_asia_survey.html in addition, political patronage, conflicts of Pakistan Corruption Report, 2002 (this report was the interest, influence peddling and other forms of basis for the regional one listed above) corrupt behaviour are commonplace across the sectors. The survey was conducted by Marketing and Research consultants under the auspices of TI Pakistan. The Diagnostic and survey tools conducted in Pakistan general objective of the survey was to measure the include: nature and extent of corruption being faced by Baseline Survey/Social Audit of Governance and consumers of seven public sector departments Service Delivery, by CIET International and NRB (Education, Health, Power, Land Administration, (National Reconstruction Bureau), conducted in 2001- Taxation, Police, Judiciary). Another objective of the 2002 (published in 2003) survey was to gather information about the particular The social audit was commissioned by the NRB and stages where obstacles are usually being faced, locate supported financially by CIDA, UNDP and UNESCO. the responsible element for creating the obstacles and Set up as a means of monitoring the effects of the the means for overcoming the bottlenecks in the seven devolution of powers to local government levels on sectors under study. delivery of public services and governance, this http://www.transparency.org.pk/documents/csr.pdf baseline survey (piloted in ten districts in 2001 and implemented in the rest in 2002) included more than 50,000 household interviews covering all of Pakistan's 2 Reform initiatives districts. Respondents gave their views and experience At the heart of Pakistan's recent anti-corruption drive of health, education, water, judiciary and police are country's National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) services, local government and others. According to launched in 2002, the National Accountability CIET, the results of this baseline survey (published in Ordinance of 1999 (amended 2002) and the National October 2003) have been shared widely with policy Accountability Bureau - the agency charged with the makers, service providers and communities and are to implementation and overall coordination of the NACS be used as benchmarks. The social audit will be and the Ordinance. A general discussion on these is repeated annually, both monitoring the impact of out of the scope of this U4 answer (there is a bulk of devolution and allowing policies to be adapted information on these general reform efforts widely according to evidence of what works and where. available and some good resources are listed in Part III The full report can be downloaded as a PDF file at the of this answer). following address: In this section, reform initiatives in some of the specific http://www.balochistan.org.pk/pdf/Pak2002baseline.pdf sectors (perceived to be most affected by corruption) Corruption in South Asia: Insights and Benchmarks are listed. Namely, efforts in areas of police and law from Citizen Feedback Surveys in Five Countries, enforcement, judiciary and legal profession and public 2002 procurement are discussed. The second section of Part II lists some reform initiatives in other areas www.U4.no 2 Corruption in Pakistan Reforms in sectors rated to be Board, to work on overall technical and human resource amongst those most affected by capacity building within the Police. corruption Judiciary and legal profession There is widespread lack of public confidence in the Police and law enforcement institutional legitimacy of the justice system. Access to Corruption in the police and law enforcement is justice and the rule of law are undermined by corruption perceived to be pervasive - creating a culture of and are under a threat. Alongside the corrupt judiciary lawlessness and lack of credibility and trust in is the legal profession with low ethics of lawyers and authorities. The police and law enforcement poor controls of the bodies (such as the Pakistan Bar appointments are often politicised and full of conflict of Council) responsible for maintaining the high standards interest. Criminals and rent-seeking and extortionist that should be required of it. authorities are often the sole beneficiaries of the game. Reform efforts have included: Police reforms were instituted about two and a half years ago by President Musharraf but, according to a) Access to Justice Programme certain expert voices, have been significantly watered The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has in 2001 down by the elected government, which still sees approved Access to Justice Programme loans totalling political patronage of police officers as important. US$ 350 million due for completion towards the end of However, a system of recruitment of better quality and 2004 with Pakistan's Ministry of Law, Justice, Human standards is being implemented with improvements in Rights and Parliamentary Affairs (MOL) as the areas of professional training, competence Executing Agency hosting the programme management development and remuneration. A great deal remains to unit (PMU). The Programme is built around five inter- be done to implement full police reforms including the related governance objectives: (i) providing a legal establishment of public safety commissions and an basis for judicial, policy, and administrative reforms; (ii) effective independent police complaints authority. improving the efficiency, timeliness, and effectiveness in judicial and police services; (iii) supporting greater It is hoped that the reorganisation outlined by the new equity and accessibility in justice services for the Police Order of 2002 and the Police Complaints vulnerable poor; (iv) improving predictability and department will improve the functions of the police and consistency between fiscal and human resource provide relief to the citizens. Reportedly, one of the first allocation and the mandates of reformed judicial and steps taken in the reorganization has been the police institutions at the federal, provincial and local separation of the police force into various branches, government levels; and (v) ensuring greater divisions, bureaus and sections. It is intended to help transparency and accountability in the performance of improve the efficiency but in fact may lead to more the judiciary, the police and administrative justice corruption and less efficiency due to non-cooperation or institutions. lack