The 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit held in London, was undoubtedly a landmark in global recognition of the need to tackle corruption matters. It was a unique opportunity to develop plans of action to effectively address this issue, acknowledging that the real victims of corruption are the world’s citizens.
It created a platform for 43 governments to sign up to ambitious targets.
Transparency International’s global movement embarked on a journey for tracking the progress of anti-corruption promises or pledges made at the Summit, through Transparency International UK’s Promise to Practice Project. A key element of this initiative to foster this agenda, was TI’s grassroots advocacy approach to build pressure for the implementation of commitments made at the summit.
The tracking project is being concluded with a final report From Practice to Impact published in December 2020.
Included in this publication is an assessment by TINZ of New Zealand's achievements. We highlighted the following challenges and recommendations.
Challenges
Whilst enforcement agencies (such as Inland Revenue Department, the Police, and Serious Fraud Office) have more access to information about beneficial ownership of companies and trusts, there is more work to do to convince policy makers and government to see the value of making this information publicly available. We have seen a shift in understanding, but more direct advocacy is needed.
Likewise, there has been some movement in the area of sporting integrity, but not enough as yet.
Recommendations
The New Zealand Government should create:
- A publicly available register of the beneficial ownership of companies and trusts
- A national anti-corruption strategy
- Measurable targets for improving data quality; more transparency about procurement that is missing from the government open tendering system (such as all of government panel purchasing)
The From Practice to Impact New Zealand specific section is on pages 31 and 32.
