Kolkata, Aug 12: Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh on Saturday reiterated India’s crusade against corruption and underlined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for zero tolerance against the menace. He recalled the 9-point agenda on fugitive economic offenders presented by PM Modi to G20 in 2018.
Addressing the G20 Ministerial Meet here, the Minister In-charge Personnel and Administrative Reforms, said, “The G20 Anti-Corruption Ministerial meeting is an opportunity for all of us to demonstrate collective and strong political will to lead the global fight against corruption. India’s zero-tolerance approach for corruption also guides our approach towards international cooperation for combating corruption.”
The Kolkata Ministerial comes on top of the 3rd and final meeting of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) under India’s Presidency held from 9-11 August 2023 in Kolkata.
Dr Jitendra said fugitive economic offenders pose a significant challenge to both national and international law enforcement as they are able to exploit gaps and differences between the legal and financial systems of countries to evade justice.
“Fugitive Economic offenders commit grave economic crimes in their home country and flee to another country to avoid arrest, prosecution, or the execution of their sentence. Economic crimes include a wide range of illegal activities such as fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, and embezzlement. Their actions undermine the rule of law, hamper economic development, and often contribute to corruption,” he said.
Referring to the 9-point agenda presented by PM Modi, he said. “It called for strong and active cooperation across G20 countries in legal processes and mechanisms to deny safe haven to all fugitive economic offenders, effective implementation of international commitments, the establishment of international cooperation for a timely and comprehensive exchange of information and formulation of a standard definition of fugitive economic offenders, development of a set of commonly agreed and standardised procedures for dealing with fugitive economic offenders by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), setting up of a common platform for sharing experiences and best practices and initiation of work on locating properties of economic for its recovery.”
The union minister said technology, transparency and public participation form the bedrock of our anti-corruption efforts. “Corruption can be countered by harnessing technology to enhance transparency and by fostering a culture of active citizen participation. I welcome the efforts of all G20 members to highlight the role of Information and Communication technology in preventing and combating corruption. By modernising governance, improving efficiency, and enhancing service delivery, these tools offer pathways to minimise corrupt practices,” he said.
Welcoming the consensus reached on principles regarding promoting integrity and transparency of specialised agencies, India’s anti-graft minister hoped it will help enhance the independence, transparency, and capabilities of such agencies and institutions.
Pointing out that corruption undermines democracy and the rule of law, Dr Singh said it perpetuates inequality and erodes public trust in institutions.
He said the fight against corruption is all the more important in our times since the world is confronted with unparalleled and diverse challenges today, including the COVID pandemic, supply chain disruptions, geo-political conflicts, and climate-related incidents.
