Draft anti-corruption law reaches parliament after 15 years

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/

via CAAI News Media

Mar 5, 2010

Phnom Penh - A much-delayed draft law to tackle Cambodia's pervasive corruption has been handed to legislators more than 15 years after it was initially proposed, national media reported Friday.

The 25-page document was approved by the cabinet in December, the Cambodia Daily newspaper reported, and could be voted on as soon as next week.

Veteran opposition parliamentarian Son Chhay, an outspoken critic of corruption, said Cambodians wanted action taken to combat the scourge.

But he expressed concern that the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) might force through the law without giving parliamentarians enough time to scrutinize its provisions.

'If these rumours are true (of a vote next week), why has the government only allowed us four days to talk about their laws before we start debating?' he told the newspaper.

The draft law proposes the creation of two independent bodies, with an anti-corruption council overseeing an anti-corruption agency. The agency's remit would be to investigate graft, while the council would report directly to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The draft law states that the government would appoint most of the senior members of the two bodies, with the two leading council members proposed by Hun Sen.

If passed in its current form - which is likely since the CPP holds more than two-thirds of parliamentary seats - the law would require politicians, military personnel, police, judges and civil servants to disclose their wealth, as well as the heads of civil society organisations.

Cambodia is regarded as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The international corruption watchdog Transparency International placed Cambodia in 166th place last year, below Angola and on a par with Zimbabwe and Turkmenistan. Just 10 nations were ranked as more corrupt.

Last year the US ambassador to Phnom Penh outraged the government when she cited a number of studies showing that corruption was costing the country up to 500 million US dollars annually.