Government claims it is being tough on graft
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President's Office spokesperson Ye Htut announced recently that all Cabinet members' sealed assets lists could be opened and checked if the public question a minister's wealth.
“The asset lists of ministers are sealed and filed. If we receive public complaints and if it is deemed necessary, we will open the sealed lists,” he told Eleven Media in Nay Pyi Taw.
Asked if the president had ordered any investigations into corruption cases since coming to power, he said the present government was working on a number of cases. These include old ones such as vehicles from governmental departments that were destroyed by fire and documents related to government warehouses that went missing during the 1988 uprising.
President Thein Sein has been addressing graft cases since assuming office in 2011, and he is even keeping an eye on the Auditor General’s Office, Ye Htut said.
“Ministries have internal audit teams. They have to report monthly to their respective ministers. Any investigation reports and findings are submitted to the President’s Office,” he explained. “We must take action against misappropriation of funds. Specific instructions have been issued on bidding procedures. If a complaint arises, we start to investigate whether the procedures have been complied with. Then, we will act against those culprits in respective cases,” he added.
“The president views corruption as a challenge to the reform process. There have been some cases in which department heads, director-generals and ministers faced punishment even though they were not identified. Now we have an anti-corruption commission. If there is evidence of corruption involving any officials, we will take action. Anyone can lodge a complaint,” he said.
According to a report submitted by the Public Accounts Joint Committee on January 28, 29 ministries and six central-level organisations have yet to reimburse tens of thousands of kyats to the state coffers.
The report also reveals the Constitutional Tribunal, Union Election Commission, Union Attorney General’s Office, Union Civil Service Selection and Training Board and the ministries such as Home Affairs, Border Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Information are found to have contravened fiscal regulations and procedures that govern the civil service.
Among them, the Ministry of Industry ranks first for alleged violations of fiscal rules and procedures.
