he Chairperson of the Anti-corruption commission, Aum Neten Zangmo said changing people’s attitude and behavior and promoting a culture of intolerance towards corruption is the biggest challenge facing the commission.
She was presenting the commission’s first annual report in the national assembly on Monday, June 11. The annual report of the anti corruption commission covered various issues ranging from institutional development, public education and advocacy to prevention of corruption and complaints and investigations.
Reporting on the status of the complaints and investigation, Aum Neten Zangmo said as of April 30, 2007, the office of the anti corruption commission has received a total of 559 complaints. 436 of the total complaints are anonymous. 81 compliants have been assessed as non-pursuable due to lack of substance and details.
The commission said weak organizational administration including poor record keeping, lack of cooperation and incomplete information from complainants make investigation very difficult.
On the suspension of accused public servants, the chairperson said the national assembly and ministry of finance acted immediately. The ministry of works and human settlement has acted on four people while no action has been taken against two other accused. The high court and the royal civil service commission have not acted at all on the suspension letters issued by the commission. The report says the construction association has initially expressed its difficulty to suspend the accused but has now suspended the accused.
According to the report, email is a major source of complaint accounting for 47% while the 42% of complaints were received through post. Walk-in complaints account for 9% and 3%of the complaints are received by telephone and fax.
The report also highlights incidences of corruption by agency. Central agencies ranked first and accounts for 27% of all cases. Cases from the Dzongkhags and region account for 21%, corporations 18%, gewog 14% and private sector 13%. Non governmental organizations account for 2%, while Dratshang and Legislative account for 1% each.
The report also says that corruption against public servants and offices relate to misuse of resources and abuse of positions.
Complaints against local leaders are mainly misuse of Gewog development funds, public contributions, imposition of fines without proper money receipt, illegal transaction of government land, non payment of wages in development works and misuse of authority in election of local leaders. Source: BBS
