STATEMENT

BY

H.E. Mr. Mohammad Niazi

The Head of

The General Inspection Organization

Of the Islamic Republic of Iran

BEFORE

The First OIC Anti Corruption and Enhancing Integrity Forum

(Kualalampur, 28 – 30 August 2006)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم

 “And don’t cause corruption on earth, truly God don’t like the corrupt.” Sure Alghesas, verse 77.

Mr. President,

Dear colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

      It is a great honor for me to represent the Islamic Republic of Iran in the first OIC Anti Corruption and Enhancing Integrity Forum and share with you my country’s views and experiences on fighting corruption and safeguarding financial and institutional integrity as well as promoting International cooperation to that effect.

      At the outset, I would like to congratulate H.E Prime Minister, Abdullah Badavi, and the Chairman of the OIC, and express my sincere gratitude to him for the timely initiative to raise the highly important issue of fighting corruption. The gathering of high-ranking officials and experts from Islamic countries in this conference should be highly appreciated as it could lead to a collective campaign against corruption and promoting integrity in the Islamic world.

      I would also like to express my thanks to the Secretariat of the Organization of the Islamic Conference as well as the Government of Malaysia for excellent organization of the Forum. Last but not least, I wish to thank our Muslim brothers and sisters, peoples of Malaysia, for their hospitality and kindness.

I. Islamic precepts on fighting corruption

Mr. President,

      The Almighty Allah has stressed the prohibition of corruption on earth and the obligation to fight it around 50 times in the Holy Quran. In fact the Islamic religion we all attest to is a leading advocator of fighting corruption, development of a corruption-free society and good governance based on high value and dignity of human being and his freedom together with responsibility toward the Almighty. Our prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him and his great family, is the able Architect of such an ideal society.

      While States have just recently began their campaign against corruption in order to respond to social needs and to regulate economic interactions and ensure integrity in and among public as well as private sectors, the Islamic teachings have originally banned any sort of corrupt behavior and illegitimate accumulation of wealth, and called for piety and integrity, especially where it concerns public wealth and rights, economic relations and distribution of revenues. That’s why I believe that many of the problems the Islamic communities face today are caused by the failure to observe true Islamic rules and values.

      Given that and based on comprehensive Islamic jurisprudence, which is the only true prescription to lead humanity to prosperity, the Islamic countries should play a pioneering role in the fight against corruption and, accordingly, we have to give it a high priority. No doubt strengthening cooperation between and among Islamic countries, at both regional and international levels, would be essential to meet such an end.

II. Iran’s situation regarding campaign against corruption

Mr. President;

      It is evident that, as one of the most important countries in the Middle East, the I. R. of Iran has a significant role in safeguarding the regional and international peace and stability.

      However, our geographical location and geopolitical situation has exposed us to a wide-range of transnational criminalities; long porous land and sea borders plus regional conflicts and tensions caused, imposed or fuelled by foreign actors has made terrorism and organized criminality, in particular drug trafficking, grow and afflict the whole region including my own country. It is now a proven fact that transnational organized crime and corruption are mutually reinforcing.

      The Islamic Republic of Iran has for too long been involved with fighting drug trafficking mafia exploiting the volatile situation in neighboring Afghanistan. The Iranian Government has adopted wide ranging effective measures to control the transit of narcotic drugs by transitional organized criminal groups through our territory to other countries in and outside of the region, particularly to European countries. In this campaign, so far, we have sacrificed thousands of our brave servicemen.

III. Fighting corruption in Iranian constitution

Mr. President,

      The Islamic Republic of Iran came into existence as a result of a popular Islamic Revolution against one of the most corrupt and despotic puppet regimes in the Middle East. Accordingly, prevention and fighting corruption was inserted in the constitution of the newly established system as one its main principles; separation of power and independence of the Judiciary has been guaranteed, and different mechanisms has been instituted to monitor and supervise the activities of executive and administrative bodies in order to prevent corruption and ensure their smooth functioning.

      In the Islamic Republic of Iran, “citizens” have principal role in every aspect of governing affairs of society. When it comes to the question of fighting corruption in public sector, it is our firm belief that people’s enhanced supervision over public sector institutions would have far-reaching implications by discouraging public officials from approaching corrupt conduct. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in its preamble, recognizes such principle under the title of “continuous supervision by Muslim Ummah over the conduct of skillful and faithful officials”. According to Article 8 of the same Constitution,’ ‘al-'amr bilma'ruf wa al-nahy 'an al-munkar is a universal and reciprocal duty that must be fulfilled by the people with respect to one another, by the government with respect to the people, and by the people with respect to the government’.

      Moreover concrete ways and means of public monitoring of government in a modern Islamic Society, such as “freedom of _expression of mass media” under Article 24, “Freedom of political parties and associations, societies and unions” under Article 26, “freedom of gathering and manifestations”, under Article 27 have been provided in the constitution. The appropriate procedure to implement and apply the aforementioned principles is predicted in codified legal provisions.  The Constitution has also conferred upon the Parliament the right to probe into and investigate in all affairs of the country.

      The Parliament is entitled to monitor all domestic and foreign interactions and relations of the Government; According to Article 76 of the Constitution, the Islamic Consultative Assembly has the right to investigate and examine all the affairs of the country. The Constitution also provides that all international treaties, conventions and contracts as well as taking and giving of loans or grants-in-aid, domestic and foreign, by the Government, must be approved by the parliament (Articles 77 and 80). In addition, the State Auditing Agency, a constitutionally-built monitoring body which has the authority to audit budgets and expenditures of Ministries and other public bodies and institutions, functions under the aegis of the Parliaments.

      It is noteworthy that the executive branch has its own internal monitoring system consisting of Ministry of Economy and Accounting Organization which checks the activities of State-run corporations and bodies.

      The General Inspection Organization is the main Anti-corruption authority in the Iranian Legal Structure. According to Article 174 of the Constitution, the General Inspection Organization, working under the auspices of the Judiciary, is an independent agency and is responsible for monitoring the conduct of public bodies and ensuring the observance of laws and regulations by them.

      Being cognizant of the fact that prevention is better than cure, the founders of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution have set mechanisms to prevent corruption among high-ranking public officials. On the one hand, Article 142 of the Constitution requires the Head of the Judiciary to examine the property of the specific categories of public officials, including the Leader, the President, Deputies to the President, Ministers as well as that of their espouses and offspring before and after their term in office. The clearly stated purpose of this provision is to make sure that the mentioned officials would not enrich illicitly and/or abuse their public post for unlawful accumulation of wealth.

      On the other hand, not only the President, his Deputies and the Ministers but also each and every person holding a public office has been banned from holding any post in private sector (Article 141). This is to prevent conflict of interests between public and private sectors which is seen as a breeding ground for corruption.

      Article 49 of the Constitution has categorically rejected all manifestations of corruption and ordered the Government to ‘[...] confiscate all wealth accumulated through usury, usurpation, bribery, embezzlement, theft, gambling, misuse of endowments, misuse of government contracts and transactions, the sale of uncultivated lands and other resources subject to public ownership, the operation of centers of corruption, and other illicit means and sources, and restoring it to its legitimate owner.’

IV. Iranian strategy in fighting corruption

Mr. President,

      As it could be induced from previous experiences, suppression of manifestations of corruption, though necessary, would have very limited effect in controlling the problem. Fighting corruption requires the identification, and then elimination, of its underlying causes and/or breeding grounds. For example as long as there are defective laws and regulations which breeds corruption, the enhancement of supervisory and judicial bodies and/or aggravating punishments could not be effective in fighting corruption. The same is true when due to national and/or regional economic conditions, illicit trafficking in specific categories of goods into or from a country is highly profitable. It is obvious that the expansion of law-enforcement maneuvers across borders and the arrest and punishment of traffickers would not have much effect in controlling the phenomenon.

      The Islamic Republic of Iran’s new campaign against corruption began with the issuance of Eight Article Verdict by the Supreme Leader in 2001. The most notable elements of the new anti-corruption strategy are as follow:

      1. Establishment of a Headquarter for Fighting Economic Corruption, in accordance with the above-mentioned Verdict, at highest level comprising the President, the Speaker of the Parliament, the Head of the Judiciary as well as heads of main anti- corruption agencies, aiming at enhanced and coordinated fight against corruption and making a serious and conclusive campaign in this regard. Especial units were also established in judicial, security and intelligence bodies in order to focus on, and enhance, fight against corruption. 

      2. Prioritization of anti-corruption efforts among active elements of the Iranian society. Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was originally formed against corruption, Iranian public opinion is very sensitive to this issue and gives high importance to fighting corruption as a good index of State’s efficiency. Based on the principle of “public supervision”, and with the assistance of active social elements including mass media, members of parliament, social and political groups and societies, we have been able to promote the issue of fighting corruption as a national top priority.

      This has aggravated the situation for the corrupt officials and made the judiciary and other related authorities act seriously in corruption cases and stand accountable in this regard. It is worth noting that fighting corruption and promoting justice was the main slogan of President Ahmadinejad in his election campaign.

      3. Development of a national program for promotion of integrity in administrative system. This highly important program which has been under consideration since 2003, consists of a set of interrelated draft laws and regulations to prevent and/or deter corruption including “capacitating and supporting NGOS and medias in the prevention and fight against corruption” ‘Supporting whistle blowers and witnesses”, “mechanisms to promote accountability in public sector and to provide supervisory bodies with necessary information and facts”, as well as draft laws to guarantee free circulation of information, like Draft Law on freedom of information relating to stock market, revision of law regarding establishment of Stock Exchange Organization in order to criminalize misuse of information before its publication, and to ban any transaction by employees and officials of the Stock Exchange Organization’, ‘promoting transparency and enhancing electronic governance’, ‘minimizing government in size and limiting state machinery’ and ‘raising awareness among public officials and the whole public about consequences of corruption and the ways to prevent and fight it’.

      4. Privatization of state-owned corporations and/or economic institutions. One of the underlying sources of corruption in many developing countries is the state economy and interference of the state in economic affairs. Being aware of this breeding ground of corruption, the Islamic Republic of Iran has began a process of privatization through which the role of the Government should change from that of direct management and control of economic institution to one of overall policy-making and monitoring. In the same vein, private and cooperative sector would be supported in order to promote their capacity and capability for competition in international markets. The issuance by the Supreme Leader of a historic Verdict for transferring more than 80 percent of State- owned enterprises to private and cooperative sector, and the following measures taken by the Government to fully implement the Verdict shall be seen as a very promising step toward elimination of one of the sources of corruption in public sector.

5. Adoption of anti- corruption laws. There is a very strict legal regime against corruption in the Iranian legal system. Almost all manifestations of corruption, including bribery, embezzlement, diversion, fraud, illicit enrichment and trading in influence are criminalized in accordance with variety of legislations such as ‘Punishment of exerting unlawful influence in violation of legal provisions Act’, ‘Prohibition of Ministers, MPs and Public Officials in State and Governmental Transactions Act’,’ Punishment of Conspiracy in Public Sector’s Transactions Act’, ‘Punishment of Saboteurs in Economic System of the Country Act’, ‘Aggravating Punishment for the Persons Committing Bribery, Embezzlement and Fraud Act’, ‘Prohibition of Receiving Percentage in Foreign Transactions Act’.

      According to ‘Prohibition of Receiving Percentage in Foreign Transaction Act’, it is prohibited to accept or receive any fund, property or other financial advantage, in the course of foreign transactions of three branches of State and/or other public sector bodies and/or their associated agencies and organizations.

      To this package I should add the ‘Instruction on preventing and fighting bribery in executive and administrative authorities’ which has set a long list of rules and regulations to prevent corruption in public sector. Under a newly adopted legislation, the Judiciary is obliged to hold economic crimes courts open and to disclose the names of those convicted of acts of corruption. A draft law against money-laundering, adopted a year ago by the Parliament, is under consideration in the Expediency Council.

      Given that, I should say we are equipped with relatively sufficient legal apparatus to fight corruption. However, we need to update and revise some of the existing legislations. Iran is also a member of all international anti- drug conventions and has concluded bilateral agreements on extradition and mutual legal assistance with many Islamic countries, particularly the neighboring and regional ones.

V-UN Convention against Corruption

Mr. President,

      The adoption of UN Convention against corruption signals an important step forward in controlling the menace. It is an indicative of an international consensus that corruption is no more a local crime and that it is a crime with transnational dimensions. Therefore, all states shall work together to prevent and combat it in a comprehensive manner.

      Islamic Republic of Iran is a signatory to the UN Convention against Corruption. The legal procedure for ratification of the Convention by the Parliament has been already in progress and the final decision to ratify it is to be made by the Expediency Council. My country had an active role in the process of negotiation of the Convention and is very eager to see the full implementation of this unique legal instrument. We believe that the Convention provides an effective legal framework for multilateral cooperation against corruption, including through mutual legal assistance for confiscation and extradition of illegally acquired assets. Since asset recovery and restitution of proceeds of crime to their legitimate owners is a fundamental principle of the Convention, necessary measures shall be taken to make this principle materialize.

VI-Views on Transparency International

Mr. President,

      We think that transparency is the sine qua non element of any successful program against corruption. We take note with appreciation of the contributions the international non-governmental organizations such as Transparency International have made to the ongoing campaign against corruption. However, we need to come up with concrete and objective criteria to measure the level of corruption in various countries, taking into account the differences in cultural, economic, political and social circumstances and features prevalent in each society. In order to have a realistic overall picture about corruption in Iran, we are working on a set of localized indicators.

VII. State General Inspection Organization

Mr. President,

      As an independent supervisory and monitoring body, the State General Inspection Organization, with different specialized divisions, more than 1200 staff and an independent branch in every province, is the most important anti-corruption agency in Islamic Republic of Iran which works under the auspices of the Head of Judiciary. The Head of the Organization is selected from among the highly qualified senior judges and appointed by the Head of the Judiciary.

      The Organization is based on Article 174 of the Constitution according to which it shall have the authority to examine the public institutions and organs to ensure their proper functioning and correct implementation of legal provisions. The Organization is legally competent to constantly monitor the activities of Ministries, administration, military and police forces, State-run institutions and companies, municipalities and other Governmental/public bodies. The Organization benefits from qualified experts as well as judicial inspectors who have limited judicial competency to issue. The executive authorities shall enforce the Organization’s recommendations/ proposals and the courts are bound to examine its criminal reports expeditiously.

      As a practical step to speed up fighting corruption, the Organization has taken a pathological approach toward this scourge to identify the weakest links in expansion of this ill phenomenon. The outcome of the study has been offered to competent authorities in order to amend inefficient legislations and to push for the structural reform of corrupted institutions.  Having firm belief in preventional justice, and in order to maximize the effectiveness of our anti-corruption activities, we are determined to employ information technology and cyber space facilities to promote the efficiency of our monitoring activities. The Organization is now able to benefit from highly valued assistance and participation of citizens through Public Relations Centre phone number 136 and email address www.136.ir. More than 20000 reports from ordinary citizens have been received through these two channels in recent year.

Conclusion

      Fighting corruption is the responsibility of all states, developed or developing. However developing countries should redouble their efforts to control this dangerous phenomenon, since they are badly affected by negative consequences of corrupt acts. Corruption is among the main obstacles in the way of economic and social development as it deprives the developing countries of highly needed capital for investment in development programs. And the ultimate victim of entrenched corruption is the poor people of developing and less developed countries. We have to shoulder the responsibility to fight this fatal cancer and cooperate more closely to that effect. It is also expected that the developed countries, generally the destination of much of illegally acquired assets, adopt strict measure against illegal transactions, on the one hand, and facilitate their recovery and return to the countries of origin. Corruption will not be overcome unless international and regional participation and cooperation is warranted.

I wish to end my statement by reciting a verse against corruption.

تلک الدّار الآخره نجعلها للذين لا يريدون علواً في الارض ولا فسادا و العاقبه للمتقین

Thank you.