Govt urged to follow Chinese anti-corruption model

Islamabad: The Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders (ICST) on Saturday said the government should follow the Chinese anti-corruption model to eradicate corruption and pave way for rapid national development.

The government should study the relevant laws of different countries, dissolve all the dysfunctional anti-corruption departments to establish a new super agency having a mandate to question any person or department, it said.

An effective agency to fight corruption will prove more beneficial than CPEC and it is more important than making nuclear weapons or any other thing, said Patron Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Shahid Rasheed Butt.

He said that the conviction rate of FIA in financial crimes is only 6.6 per cent while NAB ensured the conviction of 112 persons out of over 25000 applications. The plea bargain system of NAB continues to encourage corruption while we also have anti-bribery bodies recovering a fraction of their budget pushing Pakistan on 106th number among 113 countries on an international index, he added.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that the conviction rate in Malaysia stands at 80 per cent, its 84 per cent in Hong Kong, 97 per cent in Singapore and 99 per cent in China that is a reason behind Beijing’s phenomenal growth.

The Chinese government is not satisfied with 99 per cent conviction rate and it is in process of making anti-corruption laws more stringent.

The business leader said that Saudi Arabia recently arrested 500 corrupt in a crackdown out of which 95 per cent agreed to return looted wealth within few hours.

However, the situation in Pakistan is otherwise as the corruption thrives despite best efforts calling for a change.