Corruption has taken centrestage: CBI

CBI Special Director V K Gupta on Monday stated that international co-operation is the need of the hour to track the proceeds of corruption and asset recovery.

He was addressing a gathering after inaugurating the second Interpol Global Programme on Anti Corruption and Asset Recovery at the CBI headquarters here from November 19 to 23.   The theme of the programme was ‘Corruption- A Multi-jurisdictional Investigation’.  Twenty-nine Participants from nine countries, including Malaysia, Maldives, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan and senior Interpol officers will be attending the event. 

Experts from the Interpol, CBI, NIA, FBI, World Bank, Europol, CFSL and other law enforcement organizations will be part of the event.   Gupta said that corruption has taken centre stage in many countries and has emerged as the most important issue concerning polity and public life.

Stressing the need for international co-operation, Gupta said that the design of any government’s development programme should provide more transparency and accountability. He said systems and procedures which are opaque, complicated, centralized and discretionary are fertile breeding grounds for corruption.

The countries need to engage with each other at different levels to effectively block all escape routes for fugitives who blatantly indulge in corrupt practices, he stressed.

K Saleem Ali, Special Director of the CBI, said that asset recovery and impounding of proceeds of corruption is extremely important as it is the one factor that hits hard those indulging in corrupt activities.  He also said that an “ethical ambience” is required in society which promotes transparency, accountability and equitable distribution of powers to combat the menace of corruption.

R K Dutta, Special Director, CBI, said those indulging in corruption now use  new ways to transfer the proceeds of crime to various countries.