Cambodia sets out plans to fight corruption

Cambodian men drive their motor taxis loaded with goods and passengers along a street in Phnom Penh on June 7. Cambodia has laid out plans to tackle graft in one of the world's most corrupt nations, in an attempt to reassure foreign investors. Mon Sep 27, 2010 PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Cambodia on Monday laid out plans to tackle graft in one of the world's most corrupt nations, in an attempt to reassure foreign investors. The National Council for Anti-Corruption, a new body, said it had adopted a five-year plan that would include mandatory asset declarations for more than 100,000 state officials. Council spokesman Keo Remy said the asset declarations would start early next year. Cambodia was ranked 158th worst out of 180 countries on anti-graft organisation Transparency International's most recent corruption perception index. It was also ranked the second most corrupt Southeast Asian nation after Indonesia in an annual poll by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy earlier this year. Keo Remy told AFP that the council aims to improve "the national economy and the standard of living for the people, as well as to gain confidence for foreign investment." Rampant corruption has harmed the country's image in the eyes of foreign investors and donors. In an effort to change a culture of corruption that has permeated levels of society, the council said it wants to organise anti-graft lessons in schools and universities across the country. It also plans to launch ways for the public to report corruption and extortion attempts by government officials, such as a hotline and a website. "Under our crackdown nobody will be forgiven for corruption," Keo Remy said. In March, the government approved a long-awaited anti-corruption law that could see officials jailed for up to 15 years if convicted of accepting bribes. The law allowed for the creation of the anti-corruption council and an anti-corruption unit to oversee investigations, but critics said it was unlikely either body would be effective because both would be controlled by the ruling party.