Last month, IBAC CEO, Alistair Maclean, accepted an invitation from Columbia Law School to speak at the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity Conference in New York City. The conference focused on ‘global cities’ and their approaches to anti-corruption.
Mr Maclean gave an overview of IBAC's functions and operations, from the perspective of being a relatively new anti-corruption agency. Delegates from around the world were particularly interested in IBAC's ability to conduct public examinations. Mr Maclean’s speech is available online.
“Issues regarding corruption are common to most countries but the models for anti-corruption agencies in the cities represented at the conference (including New York, Rio de Janeiro, Philadelphia, Bogota, Montreal and Cape Town) differed widely,” Mr Maclean said, following the conference.
“A key focus of the Montreal agency, for example, is on city contracts, with the power to cancel such contracts at any time. In Paris, the agency’s focus is on conflicts of interest and asset registers for city officials and contractors. In Miami, the anti-corruption body is funded by a 0.025 per cent levy on all city contracts,” Mr Maclean observed.
“One engaging and much discussed topic was the use of data analytics in preventing and exposing corrupt conduct. This extended to discussions with police oversight bodies and other organisations in Washington DC and New York City, in particular the Inspector General for the NYPD – a relatively new oversight agency focusing on systemic issues,” Mr Maclean said.
Below is an example of advertising developed by the NYC Department of Investigations encouraging the community to report suspected corruption.
Image courtesy of the NYC Department of Investigation