Lokpal bill draft Nascently Naive

Nksagar-Sagar Media Inc:New Delhi: 21 June 2011:
In appointment of Lokpal panel if the same is done by the government structure then automatically it remains a part of government edifice.Professional and people with finer quality of social fabric of the nation, career free of any sort of encumbrances to be true to national welfare to be appointed a Lok Pal member instead of Judge the advocate of impeccable record is best choice and the people appointed to this sovereign structure which has ingredients to keep a bird view on the constitutional authorities ought to be an independent body without government system touch.This will help in making the constitution of India work in more diligent way.Team Anna wish citizens empowered to refer complaints for removal of Lokpal to the Supreme Court, but the Government says only it should have the power to refer complaints against Lokpal to the apex court on the contrary no panel members to be for period of more than two years and thirty percent must retire every years.
Lokpal draft has attention of PM Manmohan Singh who has been scoring on the point that government is serious in fighting corruption but is reacting and acting against those fighting for anti-graft.His popularity in touching low ebb and he is being looked upon as shield-er of corrupt people rather than eradicating corruption.Thus official media reports,A meeting of UPA leaders is being held Tuesday a part of efforts to ascertain views of the alliance partners over the drafting of the Lokpal Bill.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened the meeting apparently to consult the constituents of the ruling alliance over ticklish issues such as bringing the post of the PM under the ambit of the anti-corruption watchdog.There has been divergence of views among UPA allies on the issue. While Congress and NCP have expressed opposition, DMK is reported to be favouring it.The government has already given hints that it would convene an all-party meeting in July to discuss the inclusion of the post of the Prime Minister under the Lokpal's purview.The all-party meeting would be held after the joint drafting committee completes the process of drafting the Lokpal Bill by June 30.

After an acrimonious meeting last week, the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill today agreed on most of the issues but new areas of disagreement like the manner of selection and removal of the ombudsman came up adding to persisting differences on contentious aspects.

Both the government side and the Anna Hazare team said the three-hour-long meeting was held in a "very cordial atmosphere" but differed on the extent of its success.The committee will meet tomorrow for the last time during which both the sides will exchange their drafts on which they will comment upon.HRD Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters that 80 to 85 per cent issues were resolved while activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan differed on this percentage but contended that there was consensus on majority of the issues.

With text of United Nations Convention against Corruption:
The Convention highlights are :

Prevention

Corruption can be prosecuted after the fact, but first and foremost, it requires prevention. An entire chapter of the Convention is dedicated to prevention, with measures directed at both the public and private sectors. These include model preventive policies, such as the establishment of anticorruption bodies and enhanced transparency in the financing of election campaigns and political parties. States must endeavour to ensure that their public services are subject to safeguards that promote efficiency, transparency and recruitment based on merit. Once recruited, public servants should be subject to codes of conduct, requirements for financial and other disclosures, and appropriate disciplinary measures. Transparency and accountability in matters of public finance must also be promoted, and specific requirements are established for the prevention of corruption, in the particularly critical areas of the public sector, such as the judiciary and public procurement. Those who use public services must expect a high standard of conduct from their public servants. Preventing public corruption also requires an effort from all members of society at large. For these reasons, the Convention calls on countries to promote actively the involvement of non-governmental and community-based organizations, as well as other elements of civil society, and to raise public awareness of corruption and what can be done about it. Article 5 of the Convention enjoins each State Party to establish and promote effective practices aimed at the prevention of corruption.

Criminalization

The Convention requires countries to establish criminal and other offences to cover a wide range of acts of corruption, if these are not already crimes under domestic law. In some cases, States are legally obliged to establish offences; in other cases, in order to take into account differences in domestic law, they are required to consider doing so. The Convention goes beyond previous instruments of this kind, criminalizing not only basic forms of corruption such as bribery and the embezzlement of public funds, but also trading in influence and the concealment and laundering of the proceeds of corruption. Offences committed in support of corruption, including money-laundering and obstructing justice, are also dealt with. Convention offences also deal with the problematic areas of private-sector corruption.

International cooperation

Countries agreed to cooperate with one another in every aspect of the fight against corruption, including prevention, investigation, and the prosecution of offenders. Countries are bound by the Convention to render specific forms of mutual legal assistance in gathering and transferring evidence for use in court, to extradite offenders. Countries are also required to undertake measures which will support the tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of corruption.

Asset recovery

In a major breakthrough, countries agreed on asset-recovery, which is stated explicitly as a fundamental principle of the Convention. This is a particularly important issue for many developing countries where high-level corruption has plundered the national wealth, and where resources are badly needed for reconstruction and the rehabilitation of societies under new governments. Reaching agreement on this chapter has involved intensive negotiations, as the needs of countries seeking the illicit assets had to be reconciled with the legal and procedural safeguards of the countries whose assistance is sought.

Several provisions specify how cooperation and assistance will be rendered. In particular, in the case of embezzlement of public funds, the confiscated property would be returned to the state requesting it; in the case of proceeds of any other offence covered by the Convention, the property would be returned providing the proof of ownership or recognition of the damage caused to a requesting state; in all other cases, priority consideration would be given to the return of confiscated property to the requesting state, to the return of such property to the prior legitimate owners or to compensation of the victims.

Effective asset-recovery provisions will support the efforts of countries to redress the worst effects of corruption while sending at the same time, a message to corrupt officials that there will be no place to hide their illicit assets. Accordingly, article 51 provides for the return of assets to countries of origin as a fundamental principle of this Convention. Article 43 obliges state parties to extend the widest possible cooperation to each other in the investigation and prosecution of offences defined in the Convention. With regard to asset recovery in particular, the article provides inter alia that "In matters of international cooperation, whenever dual criminality is considered a requirement, it shall be deemed fulfilled irrespective of whether the laws of the requested State Party place the offence within the same category of offence or denominate the offence by the same terminology as the requesting State Party, if the conduct underlying the offence for which assistance is sought is a criminal offence under the laws of both States Parties".

All the above features must find place in India's anti-graft watchdog structure being under preparation from the desk of Indian ministerial structure of repute and for not attending to the above points India which is boosting to bring reforms in International Institutions is making grave err in its primary objective of giving India people the best of sovereign body to keep the nation's sovereignty intact.

Lokpal draft has attention of PM Manmohan Singh who has been scoring on the point that government is serious in fighting corruption but is reacting and acting against those fighting for anti-graft.His popularity in touching low ebb and he is being looked upon as shield-er of corrupt people rather than eradicating corruption.Thus official media reports,A meeting of UPA leaders is being held Tuesday a part of efforts to ascertain views of the alliance partners over the drafting of the Lokpal Bill.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened the meeting apparently to consult the constituents of the ruling alliance over ticklish issues such as bringing the post of the PM under the ambit of the anti-corruption watchdog.There has been divergence of views among UPA allies on the issue. While Congress and NCP have expressed opposition, DMK is reported to be favouring it.The government has already given hints that it would convene an all-party meeting in July to discuss the inclusion of the post of the Prime Minister under the Lokpal's purview.The all-party meeting would be held after the joint drafting committee completes the process of drafting the Lokpal Bill by June 30.

After an acrimonious meeting last week, the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill today agreed on most of the issues but new areas of disagreement like the manner of selection and removal of the ombudsman came up adding to persisting differences on contentious aspects.

Both the government side and the Anna Hazare team said the three-hour-long meeting was held in a "very cordial atmosphere" but differed on the extent of its success.The committee will meet tomorrow for the last time during which both the sides will exchange their drafts on which they will comment upon.HRD Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters that 80 to 85 per cent issues were resolved while activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan differed on this per