Corruption in our Region

Hosted by: AIIA NSW in Sydney

The event will start on: Tuesday, 13 September 2011 6:00 PM

And will end on: Tuesday, 13 September 2011 7:30 PM

At The Glover Cottages, Sydney

124 Kent Street , Sydney NSW

    nsw.branch@aiia.asn.au

Posted by: nsw   

Roger Gyles, chairman of TIA, and Michael Ahrens, executive director, will lead a discussion on the issues confronting Australians in the context of globalization and the severe impact of corruption in many countries in the region.

Transparency International is a watchdog organization with chapters around the world dedicated to the challenge of combating bribery and corruption in whatever form.

It is non partisan and the directors act on a pro-bono basis.  TIA does not investigate individual cases but concentrates on the effort to strengthen institutions in the public sector and standards and systems in the private sector.  Issues such as the lack of an integrity oversight body for the Federal Public Service and the lack of whistleblower protection at Commonwealth level are still under scrutiny.

In the private sector, the recent prosecution of two companies, affiliates of the Reserve Bank, together with seven executives of those companies is a highly significant step being the first prosecution to enforce the law implementing the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention since this was ratified by Australia in 1999.  Transparency International monitors that Convention and produces surveys and training materials.

Internationally, a range of issues extends across the UN Convention, the G20’s Anti Corruption Action Plan, the EITI campaign, transparency in procurement, freezing of stolen assets such as those from Libya and Tunisia and FIFA.

Roger  Gyles AO QC, chairman of the TIA, now practices as an arbitrator and mediator and has conducted several inquiries since retirement from the bench including the current Commission of Inquiry into matters relating to HMAS Success. He was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 1999 to 2008 and acted as special Commonwealth prosecutor of Bottom of the Harbour tax frauds between 1982 and 1984 and was Royal Commissioner into the Building Industry of New South Wales from 1990 to 1992.He practised as a barrister for many years and was president of both the New South Wales and Australian Bar Associations.

Michael Ahrens is the executive director of the Australian Chapter of Transparency International Australia and is based in Sydney.  In that active capacity, he participates in regional conferences dealing with anti-corruption work and is involved in issues such as corruption measurement, whistleblower protection, fraud prevention and corporate governance.  Michael has also published analyses of the Australian law implementing the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. Until 2001, Michael was a senior partner in the law firm Baker & McKenzie, Sydney.