ISLAMABAD: Transparency International (TI) on Tuesday adopted the Bangkok Declaration, calling upon governments to act decisively for repatriation of the looted assets and the management of frozen assets.
TI members from more than 100 countries called on this week’s Group of 20 Summit in Seoul, South Korea, to address the issues without delay. “Countries are experiencing difficulties tracing, seizing, recovering and repatriating assets. There has not been sufficient progress on recovering the tens of billions of dollars that have been stolen by corrupt national leaders and deposited in international money centres,” said TI chief Huguette Labelle, in a press release issued by TI headquarters, Germany.
Pakistan is one of the worst corruption-hit countries and according to media reports, its assets worth billions of dollars had been stolen and kept in offshore and hidden accounts, which are also termed as numbered accounts in the safe heavens of western banks. However, Ahmer Bilal Sufi, a leading expert on the international law, told Pakistan Today that the TI declaration was just a recommendation made by the organisation.
“There are international laws which are even more binding. Pakistan is a signatory to the UN Convention on Corruption and the government is bound to implement it. But I think the government lacks commitment to take measures to recover the looted national wealth. Instruments and laws are in place but there is no action. You can also judge this by the fact that the government is reluctant to implement the Supreme Court order on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and there is no action to bring back money kept in hidden Swiss accounts,” he added.
The Bangkok Declaration, which was adopted unanimously, calls on the governments to respond quickly to requests to provide information to move forward stolen and frozen asset cases. It calls for financial institutions to be held legally liable if they did not release frozen assets. It also called for greater action from the international community to tighten money-laundering laws.
TI Vice-Chair Akere Muna said, “The recommendations emphasise how important stolen assets, if promptly repatriated, are for development and explicitly addresses the inadequate way in which frozen assets are currently being managed.”
This declaration was one of three resolutions approved by delegates from more than 100 TI national chapters and individual members of TI at the conclusion of the organisation’s annual membership meeting.
Apart from corruption, the delegates also voted to call on Russian law enforcement authorities to protect press freedom and civil society and to investigate all attacks on journalists and activists to and prevent future attacks, the statement said.
The anti-corruption organisation also voted to establish an award in the name of Amalia Kostanyan, the late chair of TI Armenia, who died suddenly in September, to recognise excellence within the TI community.
