Report: Corrupt hiding behind immunity

IMMUNITY and extradition have been identified as the biggest obstacles to fighting corruption worldwide. This finding was outlined as part of the recently released Global Corruption Report (GCR) 2004. In the section entitled “Immunity and extradition: obstacles to justice,” Veronique Pujas states: “The judicial fight against political corruption faces many obstacles, particularly legal immunity which politicians enjoy and the difficulty of prosecuting individuals who have fled their country to escape justice. Immunity and extradition are two dimensions of a deeper problem: one of the main weaknesses of the legal and institutional structures created to fight corruption is the lack of control and accountability of politicians and civil servants at the highest level of decision-making, in both national governments and inter-governmental organisations.

This lack of accountability is exacerbated by the increasing gap in legal protection between normal citizens, whose rights and freedoms are being progressively undermined by new legal tools in conventions to fight transnational crimes, and ruling elites who fall outside any jurisdiction.” Pujas said immunity “results from an historical principle that those in charge of public affairs should have legal protection.” “Politicians are generally granted immunity for actions they carry out and speeches they make in performance of their duties as a way of preventing politically motivated legal attacks. The rationale is to protect the office that the politician holds — not the politician — as means of guaranteeing the continuity of the office and the separation of powers,” she explained. Pujas added that it was for this reason that limits are placed on immunity and “corruption charges are a case in point.”