The head of the United Nations' drugs and crime agency has called for the full implementation of a UN anti-corruption treaty as part of international efforts to restore confidence amid the financial crisis.
Governments and banks should make better use of the UN Convention against Corruption to restore confidence in the international financial system, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, said in a statement released Tuesday, the International Day against Corruption.
The global anti-corruption treaty should be the basis for strengthening integrity and oversight, and curbing economic crime, he said.
"If more governments and businesses implemented the Convention we wouldn't be in such a mess."
The Convention, signed by 128 parties and effective since December 2005, includes detailed measures to prevent and fight corruption applicable to both the private and public sectors.
Franz-Hermann Bruener, director general of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), underlined the growing operational collaboration between OLAF and the UN, saying that raising public awareness of the campaign against corruption is key to bringing about its prevention.
Martin Kreutner, Chair of the European Partners against Corruption (EPAC) and Director of the Austrian Federal Bureau for Internal Affairs, highlighted international cooperation as "a key component in the fight against corruption" and stressed the need for partnership.
In order to train a new generation of corruption busters, an International Anti-Corruption Academy was jointly established by the International Criminal Police Organization and UNODC last month.
As the world's first educational institution dedicated to fighting corruption, the Academy is expected to play a central role in enabling police and prosecutors worldwide to investigate and prosecute corruption. It will open in Laxenburg, Austria in 2009.
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