The cycle of corruption can be broken –

Two courageous individuals and a pre-eminent watchdog organisation awarded Integrity Award

Two courageous individuals and a pre-eminent watchdog organisation will be awarded the Transparency International Integrity Awards 2005, on Friday, 11 November 2005, in Berlin, Germany.

Khairiansyah Salman (Indonesia), Abdou Latif Coulibaly (Senegal), and the Movement for Quality Government (Israel) have contributed tremendously to the fight against corruption in their countries. They were selected by the Integrity Awards Committee in recognition of their exceptional bravery in standing up to corruption.

“The individuals receiving our award are heroes who stood up in the face of corruption and succeeded in improving the lives of their countrymen. Thanks to them and to others who put their lives on the line every day, tolerance towards thieving public officials and opaque dealings are giving way to more transparent practices around the world,” TI Chairman Peter Eigen said today on announcing the awards recipients.

Mr Salman is an auditor at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) in Indonesia who revealed grand corruption in the procurement activities of the General Election Commission and then exposed the bribery of the Commission’s members. This act angered the head of the BPK and Mr Salman was accused of violating the code of conduct. He was then openly accused in the media of entrapping the Commission member to bribe him.

Mr Salman who is protected under the Corruption Eradication Commission’s witness protection scheme (KPK) is now working with the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR). His cooperation with the KPK has enabled the Commission to uncover a USD 2.1 million scandal in the General Electoral Commission which involved virtually all of its members. Nominated by TI Indonesia, Mr Salman has shown that one whistleblower can tackle corruption. He is a role model for millions of Indonesians.

Mr Coulibaly, an eminent journalist who, for ten years, has devoted himself to the fight against corruption, was nominated by TI’s national chapter in Senegal, Forum Civil. Mr Coulibaly is the head of the first Senegalese private press group. He is an outspoken contributor to the fight against corruption, ensuring its place on the agenda of Senegal’s public administration and its development partners. Mr Coulibaly has brought to light the biggest financial scandals, embezzlement cases, and irregularities in public contracting. After he published a book in 2003 on the government’s poor governance practices, he suffered serious pressure and death threats, and has been the object of the political elite’s spite.

The Movement for Quality Government (MQG) was nominated by SHVIL Israel, the Israeli chapter of TI. MQG is recognised as the nation’s pre-eminent government watchdog organisation, increasing public awareness of corruption in Israel. This apolitical and independent movement keeps the pressure on the government to address social and civic issues despite its preoccupation with security issues. MQGs has helped to install principles of sound public administration and quality government by: shining the light on secret coalition agreements, and exposing financial arrangements connected to the state’s annual budget, establishing a rule requiring “Special Skills” for political appointments.

There were numerous quality nominations from around the world, and TI thanks and congratulates all the candidates for their remarkable work in the fight against corruption.

For more on the TI Integrity Awards, please see: https://www.transparency.org/getinvolved/anticorruptionaward
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Sarah Tyler
Transparency International
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