Prevention of Political Corruption

Introduction:

“Corruption—the fact itself but, even more important, the talk about it—occupies a great place in Indian politics.”

-Morris-Jones

Political corruption is the use of resources for illicit private benefit by government officials or their network contacts. Corruption types vary but may include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, pedalling power, grafting, and embezzlement.

Corruption is an issue that has drawn the attention of scholars as well as the general public from the time of the advent of ancient civil societies to today’s complex politics. The essence and consequences of corruption in contemporary society have undergone major changes as opposed to the past. India is ranked at 80th position in the list of 180 countries in terms of corruption as per the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Such an index includes both political and bureaucratic corruptions. An international organization has estimated the annual worth of the Indian corruption market to be approximately USD 5 billion and in this 75% of them are corruption by politicians.[1] That is the reason why today we are living in a rich country but we are termed as poor by the Western countries. List of political corruptions or scandals after independence is very much higher in number.

Anti-Corruption Laws

Public servants in India can be penalized for corruption under:

•  The Indian Penal Code, 1860

1. Section 169 is concerned with a public servant unlawfully buying or bidding for the property. The public servant shall be punished with imprisonment of up to two years or with fine or both. If the property is purchased, it shall be confiscated.
2. While Section 409 refers to criminal breach of trust by a public servant. The public servant shall be punished with life imprisonment or with imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine. And,

• The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

1. If a public servant takes gratification other than his legal remuneration in respect of an official act or to influence public servants is liable to a minimum punishment of six months and maximum punishment of five years and fine. The Act also penalizes a public servant for taking gratification to influence the public by illegal means and for exercising his personal influence with a public servant.
2. If a public servant accepts a valuable thing without paying for it or paying inadequately from a person with whom he is involved in a business transaction in his official capacity, he shall be penalized with a minimum punishment of six months and maximum punishment of five years and fine.
3. It is necessary to obtain prior sanction from the central or state government in order to prosecute a public servant.

• The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 prohibits benami transactions.

1. The Act prohibits any Benami transaction (purchase of property in the false name of another person who does not pay for the property) except when a person purchases property in his wife’s or unmarried daughter’s name.
2. Any person who enters into a Benami transaction shall be punishable with imprisonment of up to three years and/or a fine.
3. All properties that are held to be Benami can be acquired by a prescribed authority and no money shall be paid for such acquisition

• The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 penalises public servants for the offence of money laundering.

1. The penalty for committing the offence of money laundering is rigorous imprisonment for three to seven years and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh. If a person is convicted of an offence under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 the term of imprisonment can extend up to 10 years.
2. The Adjudicating Authority, appointed by the central government, shall decide whether any of the property attached or seized is involved in money laundering. An Appellate Tribunal shall hear appeals against the orders of the Adjudicating Authority and any other authority under the Act.
3. Every banking company, financial institution and intermediary shall maintain a record of all transactions of a specified nature and value, and verify and maintain records of all its customers, and furnish such information to the specified authorities.

• India is also a signatory (not ratified) to the UN Convention against Corruption since 2005. The Convention covers a wide range of acts of corruption and also proposes certain preventive policies. ^[2]

A legislative bill was tabled by a Member of Parliament, The Disclosures of Lobbying Activities 2013, in the background of the Nira Radia scandal, in Lok Sabha in 2013, but the bill has since lapsed.

This bill aimed to check up on lobbying and the lobbying agent itself. Regulation of lobbying practices, however, is only envisaged on the supply side, and such a strategy can not resolve disclosure and constitutional ethics issues satisfactorily.

Suggestions

While legislation and laws against corruption exist in India it is important to keep a check on their proper implementation. One can clearly observe that the level of corruption in India is not going down, therefore it is necessary to bring in some changes and improve the system.

1. There should be a Special Court or tribunal to deal with corruption cases only with the adequate expert manpower, and these courts will be fast track courts, and cases will have to be resolved within six months.
2. The central Lokpal and the state-level Lokayukta need to be authorized to examine or investigate any allegation that directly or indirectly affects the nation’s economy. Working of this system should be transparent and every record lying with the Lokpal and Lokayukta should be available for verification to the public. All these proceedings should be transparent at the Anti-Corruption Commission, CAG.
3. The appointment of officials in the anti-corruption investigating agency will be completely transparent and without any political intervention.
4. All case reports will be released on the web site after the investigation has been completed. The complaint shall be investigated thoroughly, against any of the employees of the Anti-Corruption Department, CAG, and the penalty shall be declared within two months.
5. There is no legislation to recover the black money or loss caused to the country from the corrupt public servant so that required implementation or amendment or alteration can be made in accordance with established corruption law.

Conclusion

Even as estimates of the level of corruption in India have been made, the actual magnitude may be much greater than all the studies have indicated so far. Laws can only be useful when people are aware of these laws and their own right. India needs an economic growth spurt after 74 years of independence and the people must ensure that the nation does not enter the road of being seen as a failed state. People need to unite together to uproot political corruption out of this nation.

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References:

^[1] Nimmi, Political Corruption INDIANMIRROR (2020), https://www.indianmirror.com/corruption/political-corruption.html (last visited Jul 28, 2020).

^[2] PRS Note on Corruption Laws, PRSIndia (2018), https://www.prsindia.org/parliamenttrack/discussion-papers/prs-note-corruption-laws (last visited Jul 28, 2020).