Fighting Corruption in the Public Sector
Corruption is a significant issue that affects government sand societies worldwide, including both developing and the developed world. Corruption hampers the overall development of a country and has far-reaching consequences. Corrupt practices prioritize personal interests of individuals in positions of power over the welfare of ordinary citizens. This leads to negative impact son the economy, impedes progress, and restricts access to essential services like healthcare and education, particularly for vulnerable populations.
In countries where corruption is prevalent, public trust in the government is often low. Thereby, it becomes imperative to safeguard taxpayer funds from being wasted due to corrupt practices. It is in this context that Transparency International Pakistan established Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC) for more than a decade ago to provide platform to the victims, witnesses and whistleblowers of corruption to safely report corrupt practices. ALAC has reached out to 1000s of people across Pakistan and intervened on their behalf to seek redress for their grievances.
One such example is the case of corrupt practices in the Legal Directorate of Lahore Electric Supply Corporation(LESCO). On 10th May 2023, ALAC Pakistan received a whistleblower complaint regarding favoritism and corruption in the award of legal cases of Lahore Electric Supply Corporation (LESCO) to the selected lawyers by the Legal Directorate of the LESCO. The complainant alleged that certain officers within the legal directorate of LESCO were involved in corrupt practices, including receiving commissions for assigning legal cases to a handpicked panel of advocates. It was pointed out that LESCO, on 21December 2020, had already issued office order highlighting favoritism in selection of lawyers in court cases and required that no single lawyer on the panel of advocates will be given more than 100 pending court cases of LESCO with effect from 01-01-2021.
It was also a clear case of Conflict of Interest whereby the government lawyers in violation of Establishment Division rules were being given private court cases at exorbitant fee.It was further pointed out by the complainant that more than 1100 appeals in electricity cases had been filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, with only one advocate handling all of them and charging an exorbitant fee ofRs. 10,000 per case, resulting in a substantial burden of11 million rupees to the national exchequer.
TI Pakistan reviewed the complaint in light of documentary evidence and consequently on 15th May 2023, wrote a letter to the provincial head of the government, Chief Minister of Punjab, Prime Minister of Pakistan, Supreme Court of Pakistan and the National Accountability Bureau highlight the violations of Establishment Division Rules, LESCO’s own office order requiring no lawyer be given more than 100 cases and prevalent corrupt practices in the department.TI Pakistan also highlighted that the allegations of bribery and kickbacks in the award of legal cases to a selected panel of advocates, are serious in nature and urged the department to investigate the allegations and hold all those responsible, accountable.
In response to TI Pakistan letter, the office of the Prime Minister of Pakistan vide letter No. 3746-47/CCC/PMDU/COMP/029/Vol-28 dated 24th May 2023wrote to the LESCO on TI Pakistan complaint. In response to the Prime Minister office letter, LESCO informed the Prime Minister Delivery Unity (PMDU) on 26th May 2023that it has terminated the contract services of Chief Lawyer Officer vide its office order No. 2857-60 dated 24th.TI Pakistan has further written to LESCO that administrative inquiry may also be initiated against responsible officer through anti-corruption agency so that the loss caused to the national exchequer can be recovered.
Due to its consistent advocacy and legal assistance,TI Pakistan ALAC regularly contributes towards building amore transparent and accountable governance in the public sector in Pakistan, effectively combating corrupt practices and conflicts of interest.