In this interview, Bertrand de Speville, as former head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong, and author of Overcoming Corruption: The Essentials, details the measures that should be taken by successful anti-corruption agencies. He explains how the three-pronged strategy of the ICAC is very effective. The three departments of the ICAC—investigation, prevention, and education--- investigate allegations of corruption, attempt to prevent corruption from occurring in private and public sectors, and try to educate the general public about how to eliminate corruption, respectively. De Speville stresses how important it is for these departments to be closely coordinated. Also, he states how he was able to deduce the common mistakes that countries make in regard to their attempt to fight corruption. One of these common pitfalls is a flawed investigating policy, where countries just go for the “big fish.” Thus, the public may believe that the anti-corruption agency is not impartial, but has a political ulterior motive. Therefore, de Speville explains how resources must be allocated in a way that mostly every allegation of corruption should be investigated. This relates to de Speville’s stressing the importance of public trust, in which he elaborates how measures such as the Citizen Oversight Committee within each department and the institution of public relations, are taken. He states that the real measure of success of an anti-corruption agency is whether it can bring about a change of heart and mind in every member of a community, and draws upon the examples of Hong Kong, Singapore, Latvia, and Lithuania to show that this success is possible. 

Case Study:  From Underdogs to Watchdogs: How Anti-Corruption Agencies Can Hold Off Potent Adversaries

In this interview, Graham Stockwell, the former Head of Operations, Deputy Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in Hong Kong, as well as the former Director of The Directorate on Commission and Economic Crime (DCEC) in Botswana, details his experiences in the creation and implementation of successful anti-corruption departments. He served in Hong Kong from 1984-1992, and there became more interested in anti-corruption work—specifically about the prevention and educational aspects. He explained how randomly while in Hong Kong, Botswana officials who were impressed by the ICAC program traveled all the way to Hong Kong in order to inquire for help and advice form him about the problems they were having in their country. They asked him to travel to Botswana to help. Upon this request, Stockwell left for Botswana in June 1992 where for two weeks he looked into files that had to do with corruption of the police, customs, and tax offices. He was able to interview people in these different areas as well. Stockwell explained how within this investigation, he discovered that there were problems within the tendering process of Botswana in combination with the fact that there was a lack of attention paid to corruption in the country overall. Stockwell states how the Botswana government appointed him the director of the DCEC due to how he requested a force for investigation, prevention, and education in Hong Kong; and they believed that he was the best man to spearhead such a project in their country. Within the interview, Stockwell stressed how the DCEC was started with nothing; and that the accommodations such an office, furniture, transportation, and other resources needed to be sought out. Following their attainment of these necessities, Stockwell explains how they needed to recruit individuals for the DCEC, so there was the formation of a government formation policy group where there was recruitment predominately via the radio. After recruiting individuals, who were mostly from the United Kingdom and police officers from the local community, the next step was legislation. Stockwell and his 4 colleagues split up to all parts of Botswana and explained the anti-corruption legislation, and received huge governmental backing from the likes of President Sir Quett Masire and his ministers.  Also, Stockwell elaborates on some of the cases which were tried during his tenure, and the roles of the investigation, prevention, and education departments within the DCEC. He details how upon leaving Botswana and the DCEC following 4 years of hard work, he believes he left behind a very well-functioning agency; it was the first department that had been set up since the country became independent and it was impressively created from scratch.  

Case Study:  Managing Corruption Risks: Botswana Builds an Anti-Graft Agency, 1994-2012

In this interview, Tymon Katlholo explains his experience as the director of Botswana’s Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime. He explains the importance of establishing and adhering to guidelines when pursuing cases in order to remain politically neutral and non-discriminatory as an anti-corruption agency. He further discusses some challenges he had faced in achieving institutional independence, managing interagency cooperation, streamlining investigative procedures and raising awareness in regions that are beyond the reach of the media. From his experience, Katlholo draws the lesson that corruption is about service delivery and productivity. In order to fight corruption, it is crucial to enhance professionalism, transparency, and accountability.