Managing Conflict of Interest - Organisation for Economic Co ...

40 Managing Conflict of InterestHow Disclosure Fosters Better GovernmentAttention-grabbing stories and investigative reports help toincrease transparency as well as document progress made towardstandardizing asset disclosure enforcement worldwide. However,these accounts also provide ample evidence that greater transparencyin the public sector and stricter asset disclosure requirementsare necessary across the globe.• United States. While in office, US Senator from KentuckyWalter “Dee” Huddleston declared income received froma speaking engagement that took place in the Bahamas ondates when Congress was in session. He should have beenin Washington, DC, conducting the people’s business. HisRepublican opponent seized on this discrepancy, and it costHuddleston reelection.• Philippines. Philippine investigative reporter Tess Bacallaused publicly disclosed asset declaration forms to documentthe disconnect between low government salaries andthe extravagant homes and unexplained property and luxuryassets amassed by government workers. In one case, a taxcollector with an annual salary of 250,000 pesos, or roughlyUSD5,000, was living in a mansion with a pool. In anothercase, a regional director of the tax collection agency had severalluxury cars, including SUVs and BMWs, parked in front ofhis home. Neighbors explained that he and his family werethe only ones who used them, yet when Bacalla checkedhis asset disclosure form, the cars were not listed. Using themotor vehicle registry, she found the cars were falsely registeredto friends. As a result of her investigative report, severaltax collection agency officials were forced to resign and arecurrently facing corruption charges, while others have beensuspended pending further investigation.• Romania. In a huge criminal-justice shake-up, Romaniareplaced most of its judges and prosecutors. In 2003,1,200—nearly a third of the total—quit. The old lot cannotbe sacked; the judiciary is independent. A new law makesstaying unattractive, by requiring officials and their familiesto publish their assets and incomes on the Internet. Villas,cars, and other toys are no longer perks of corruption butADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific