Corruption: A Matter of Perception

There is no single definition for “corruption”.

HnC found some common definitions on Nambia’s Anti-Corruption Website.

From the National Integrity Promotion Campaign - Namibia:-

Corruption involves behaviour on the part of persons in which they improperly enrich themselves or those close to them by misusing power with which they have been entrusted. In short, corruption is the misuse of public power for personal gain.

From the Handbook on fighting corruption, the Centre for Democracy and Governance:-

In broad terms, corruption is the abuse of public office for private gain. It encompasses unilateral abuses by government officials such as embezzlement and nepotism, as well as abuses linking public and private actors such as bribery, extortion, influence peddling, and fraud. Corruption arises in both political and bureaucratic offices and can be petty or grand, organized or unorganized. Though corruption often facilitates criminal activities such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and prostitution, it is not restricted to these activities. For purposes of understanding the problem and devising remedies, it is important to keep crime and corruption analytically distinct.

From Transparency International (TI):-

… behaviour on the part of officials in the public sector, whether politicians or civil servants, in which they improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves, or those close to them, by the misuse of the public power entrusted to them. This would include embezzlement of funds, theft of corporate or public property as well as corrupt practices such as bribery, extortion or influence peddling.

From the United Nations Manual on Anti-Corruption Policy:-

…corruption is an abuse of (public) power for private gain that hampers the public interest. …corrupt entails a confusion of the private with the public sphere or an illicit exchange between the two spheres. In essence, corrupt practices involve public officials acting in the best interest of private concerns (their own or those of others) regardless of, or against, the public interest.

From the Law Library ’s Lexicon:-

An act done with an intent to give some advantage inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others. It includes bribery, but is more comprehensive; because an act may be corruptly done, though the advantage to be derived from it be not offered by another.

From the World Bank:-

Corruption involves behaviour on the part of officials in the public and private sectors, in which they improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves and/or those close to them, or induce others to do so, by misusing the position in which they are placed.

From Article 8 of the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime:-

The promise, offering or giving to a public official, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage, for the official himself or herself or another person or entity, in order that the official act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her official duties;

The solicitation or acceptance by a public official, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage, for the official himself or herself or another person or entity, in order that the official act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her official duties.

Generally therefore, corruption means the abuse of a PUBLIC office for PERSONAL or PRIVATE gain.

Now that thats out of the way, we can address its relevance to the situation in Fiji.

It is common knowledge that the military and its puppet IG have been using allegations of ”widespread corruption” within the SDL/FLP Coalition Government as their primary ground for justifying the overthrow of the democratically elected government.

In an unusual move however, the FLP have joined the military IG in this “clean-up campagin” against the deposed government of which they were a part - in fact, if I recall correctly, the FLP had fought very hard to take up nearly half of the positions in the multi-party cabinet (in the deposed and allegedly corrupt SDL/FLP Coalition Government).

If there was indeed any corruption (and that remains to be proven), then the inclusion of FLP in the military IG is like hiring an accomplice to investigate a crime. In such cases, great care must be taken to ensure that FLP does not LEAD the “witch hunt” because they can easily distract the public from indentifying any involvement they might have had in any alleged corruption.

In order to attract some kind of credibility however, the military and its puppet IG must ask itself what, in its view, constitutes “corruption”.

Many senior military officers will readily inform you that corruption exists and was rampant in the deposed government and that is precisely why they took over.

But when you question them further, it becomes clear that they fail (by ignorance in some and by choice in others) to appreciate that “corruption” must be proven in a court of law - otherwise it is merely an ALLEGATION of corruption.

And we all know how easy it is to make allegations.

Whatever proof the military, its puppet IG or FICAC think they have against the deposed government, they have to test it in court or they will continue to look like fools.

As HnC said earlier, the initial allegation was of widespread corruption within the SDL/FLP Coalition Government. Now that no evidence of that is forthcoming, I-Arse Khaiyum has widened the scope of the corruption allegation to include public officers who worked under previous governments.

It seems therefore that the military are just now coming to terms with the reality that its one thing to allege corruption and quite another to prove it - methinks they’re experiencing one of those ”tube light” moments!

Whatever the case may be, we must ask oursleves, why did the military think there was rampant corruption in the first place.

Judging from the way they’ve been galavanting around town raiding public statutory bodies and replacing and reconstituting Boards, its clear that Sarveshwar Pande and a few of the other Indians who write to the Fiji Times were right afterall - ie. that Fiji is effectively undergoing a “revolution”, of some kind.

The “revolution” involves the displacement and annihilation of the indigenous Fijian middle class.

What Baini fails to appreciate however is that these are Fijians who have worked their way up through the ranks in government and in the private sector and earned a decent living for themselves and their families. Their success is in turn reflected in the intiatives and contributions they have made to their respective mataqai, village, yavusa, and vanua.

While Baini Marama, Epeli “gusu va ika”, the muslim community and the Fiji Indian community may have had their own different reasons for supporting this “revolution”, Baini should remember that alot of the people he is replacing started off from very humble and poor beginnings.

They grew up in large low income families and excelled in the government and private sectors through sheer hard work and in most cases, with the support of government educational and business initiatives chanelled through the Fijian Affairs Board.

To be replaced after all that effort by opportunistic fools who probably never completed school and are by all accounts proven failures (financially, professionally and morally) is a huge tragedy for Fiji and is a testament to the values of the people who are purporting to lead our country towards greener pastures.

Based on the premise that the above assumption is correct (and I make no absolute claim to that - it’s just my view as far as I’m concerned), we can begin to see what kind of “corruption” the military believe they have evidence of, and why they are having difficulty progressing with it.

I believe the military have identified “assistance” given by pubic officers to friends and colleagues to facilitate loan approvals, promotions and business opportunites as the height of ”corruption”.

But unfortunately for them, that is not necessarily true.

If it were true, then the military would be guilty of “corruption” too - ie. promotions within the military ranks, even in normal times (to say nothing of what is going on now).

Many forms of the “assistance” mentioned above are probably borderline “corruption”, but the important feature of the majority of those cases are that the loans granted or promotions given are MERITORIOUS.

This is what Hari Pal Singh. Chairman of TI Fiji. was trying to stress in the news last night - ie. that appointments may appear nepotic but if they are based on merit they are not necessarily corrupt (note that Hari Pal Singh was actually saying this to justify recent military appointments but that’s for another post).

Now, cases like the Agricultre Scam is something completely different - that is clear cut corruption and everyone involved should be taken to task and that was what I believe the previous government was actually doing before they were unceremoniously removed by Baini and his bunch of merry men.

However, raiding Fijian Holdings Limited is another thing altogther.

Again, in their zeal to wipe out the sucess and influence of the indigenous Fijian middle class, the military have overstepped the boundaries of the law once again (not like they really care anyway) and imposed itself into what is really a PRIVATE COMPANY.

It is worth noting that nowhere in the definitions mentioned above does “corruption” encompass the actions of officers in a private company and so the military must continue to ask itself - whose interests are they truly serving by taking down the only institution that has brought some measure of wealth and prestige to a great number of indigenous Fijians, as individuals or as part of a traditional tribal group.

They certainly aren’t serving the interests of justice or the law.

They certainly aren’t serving the interests of indigenous Fijians.

The only people who will truly gain from this attack against FHL are, dare I say it, Indo-Fijians because it is they who are prevented by operation of law from investing in this, one of the most successful Fijian enterprises ever.

At the end of the day - the military must ask itself who is giving the advice to raid these Fijian companies.

If the advice is coming from I-Arse Khaiyum and Col Mohammed Aziz, then Baini must begin to queston their motives (and if possible search their house to make sure they don’t have a ticket ready to flee Fiji as soon as they’ve achieved their hidden agenda).

My message therefore is to remind the military that if they choose to usurp power from qualified individuals and suspend the GCC, then they have to remain vigilant for the sake of the Fijian people.

Dou ka kua ni moce tiko mai na keba!!!

Ke dou sa bolea mo dou veiliutaki, mo dou yadra tiko!!!

De lakolako dou qai yadra mai sa volitaka oti tu o Khaiyum kei Chaudry na nomudou tarausese!!!

Dou vei………..

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