Opening address by Head of Civil Service and Permanent Secretary (Foreign Affairs) Peter Ho at the the 3rd Anti-Corruption Expertise (ACE) Workshop, 14 October 2008

Distinguished guests,
Speakers,
Participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure this morning to welcome you to the 3rd Anti-Corruption Expertise (ACE) Workshop. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to Singapore to all our overseas participants.

2 CPIB held the first ACE Workshop in August 2006. It was the first CPIB event held in collaboration with the Singapore Cooperation Programme. The SCP is run by the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs and provides technical assistance to countries around the world. A focus of the SCP is governance. In every SCP programme on governance, two key themes always emerge in the discussions - the need for good management within the civil service, and the need for clean and transparent government. These are reflected in the theme of our workshop today "Excellence in Management of Anti-Corruption Agencies".

3 The role of an anti-corruption agency goes beyond that of an ordinary law enforcement agency, no matter what country we are talking about. It sets the tone for clean and transparent government. It is the cornerstone of a non-corrupt government in the country.

4 What is interesting is how each anti-corruption agency is structured in different countries. There are independent agencies, agencies falling under the purview of police, or in some countries, a network of several agencies dealing with anti-corruption. Regardless of these different forms, anti-corruption agencies serve to fulfil a common purpose, that is, the prevention of corruption and the investigation of corrupt offences.

5 CPIB has lined up in this 3rd ACE workshop speakers from the leadership of many different anti-corruption agencies and other law enforcement agencies. There are also academics and speakers from International Organisations. The workshop offers an excellent opportunity for anti-corruption agencies to study the different models and organisational structure of their counterparts. There will be presentations and plenary discussions on areas such as human resource, internal controls, public outreach, development of operation capabilities, and training. This would go towards fulfilling the objective of this workshop, which is to bring leadership and management personnel from anti-corruption agencies together for mutual learning on effective management. I am happy to note that our workshop this year has attracted not just participants from the Singapore Cooperation Programme but also participants and speakers from our counterparts from Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Korea and Hong Kong SAR, and China.

6 The investigation of corruption offences is never easy. Compared to other criminal acts, there is usually less forensic evidence. Given the amounts of corrupt monies involved and the nature of offence, there is also greater camouflage and concealment of corrupt transactions and corrupt proceeds. This adds to the complexity of investigation. Given the nature of corruption, parties to the crime are unlikely to complain or tell the truth. Corruption offences are often described as "victimless". Of course, in cases involving public officers, it is the State that is hurt, and indirectly, the taxpayer. But the chain that links the crime to the ultimate victim is quite often hard to discern. Against this backdrop, anti-corruption agencies are often faced with other challenges such as resource constraints, political considerations, cross-agency cooperation issues and legal hurdles. These are common problems shared by many anti-corruption agencies.

7 Apart from investigation, anti-corruption agencies are also tasked with the prevention and outreach efforts on anti-corruption. This goes beyond public education efforts for the public and private sector. Anti-corruption agencies can and should play an important role of setting anti-corruption polices and pointing out lapses in processes in the government and administrative system which may lead to opportunities in corruption.

8 The dual role for anti-corruption agencies poses unique challenges. Operational capacities have to be stretched to cover both aspects of the work. In addition, anti-corruption agencies must stand as a beacon of integrity and good governance for the rest of the public service. All these point to the need to develop an effective management framework for the agency.

9 I hope that the ACE workshop would provide a platform for you to network and share your knowledge, views and experience. This would not only enhance the development of individual officers, it would also allow the agencies to learn at an organisation level.

10 It is now my pleasure and privilege to declare the workshop open.

Thank you.

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