Transparency International's new chief aims to unmask the corrupt in an era in which graft has gone global
WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Jose Ugaz, the new head of Transparency International, brings an activist bent and prosecutor's zeal to the job of leading the world's largest anti-corruption organisation.
Top of his agenda is to name and shame kleptocrats who plunder state coffers in a campaign called Unmask the Corrupt, which promises to inject new energy into Transparency International (TI), a 21-year-old group more known for wielding influence in the corridors of power than for street protest.
"We have been very successful in putting corruption onto the international agenda and creating the tools to address corruption. Now we have to work with people and identify corrupt officials and leaders who are stealing public money and unmask them," Ugaz said in an interview.
The 55-year-old Peruvian lawyer has deep experience.
He led the 2000-2002 investigation against former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori and his head of intelligence Vladimiro Montesinos in grand corruption cases involving more than 1,500 members of Fujimori's criminal network, and recovered more than $75 million in stolen assets.
He also was a human rights official working in El Salvador, Sri Lanka and Costa Rica.
Elected last month to head TI, Ugaz wants to use his global position to expose grand corruption in many more corners of the world using non-traditional methods, especially where corruption has undermined state functions and the rule of law.
"Very often corruption has impacted the judicial system, the courts, the judges and the police. Where they are not working properly we are investigating cases and will bring social sanctions and publicly expose them," Ugaz said by telephone from Peru.
"We want to identify them. We want to name them."
STATE MONEY FOR LUXURY ABROAD
One model for such citizen activism is the criminal proceedings brought in 2007 by non-governmental organisations and a citizens' group accusing three African heads of state - Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, Omar Bongo of Gabon and Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo - of embezzling state money to buy properties in France.
Obiang's son, Teodoro Nguema, had bought a $180 million building in Paris that had 101 rooms, a Turkish bath, two gyms, a movie theatre and a hair salon, and then sold it to the state. The suits argued that such luxury was impossible on a state salary.
The United States in October also settled a civil case for $30 million against the younger Obiang over charges that he looted his impoverished country to buy a Malibu estate, Michael Jackson memorabilia, luxury cars, yachts and a jet.
"We intend to do more Obiang-type cases," Ugaz said in the interview. He declined to give further details, saying that TI is reviewing evidence in potential cases to ensure that any actions are very well founded.
CORRUPTION GONE GLOBAL
To gather more ideas on how to challenge grand corruption and confront impunity, Ugaz said he and his vice chair, Elena Panfilova from Russia, will embark on a global tour, meeting with the 100 or so chapters in its five regions over the coming year.
His biggest challenge is how to combat corruption that has grown far more complex in the past decade, Ugaz said.
The first generation of TI leaders focused on building the legal infrastructure, pressuring the United Nations to adopt the Anti-Bribery Convention and countries to pass laws against corrupt practices, particularly in the corporate arena.
Today corrupt state actors have gone global, Ugaz said.
They are linked to organised crime, drugs, human trafficking and state-sponsored terrorism; they utilise sophisticated communications technologies, have private armies, trade in weapons and launder money through the international financial system.
"It is new in its dimension and power because of a globalised world and the huge amounts of money involved. Illegal groups are challenging the political stability of countries," he said.
"We need to adopt new strategies to confront them."
(Reporting by Stella Dawson, editing by Alisa Tang)
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