London Summit

Anti-Corruption Summit London 2016

The Anti-Corruption Summit in London on 12th May 2016 brought together a unique coalition of governments, businesses, civil society, law enforcement, sports committees and international organizations, which committed to taking practical steps to tackle corruption and make it a genuine global priority.

During the course of the summit, the government of Afghanistan promised to take practical steps in tackling corruption. The government of Afghanistan made overall 31 specific anti-commitments divided in the following 3 different categories: 1. exposing Corruption, 2. punishing the corrupt and supporting those who have suffered from corruption, 3. driving out the culture of corruption, wherever it exists.

We will track the implementation of the commitments and identify whether or not the commitments are implemented. With the help of this website and public support we will pressurize the government in cases where the commitments are not implemented.

The complete text of all 31 commitments could be accessed here.

last Updated: 28 Jul 2019

Commitments Implementation Status

  • %44 inactive
  • %36 ongoing
  • %12 underway
  • %8 complete
1
Commitments:
Establishing the High Council for Governance, Rule of Law and Anti¬Corruption.
Updates:

The High Council for governance, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (HCAC) was decreed on 28/12/1394 that is 21 March 2016, and is established. However, the HCAC has failed to meet every month. It has met 40 percent of what it committed in its decree. In addition, the HCAC has been crippled due to lack of any specialized secretariat staff for itself. It continues to suffer from the above two issues.

https://president.gov.af/en/about-national-high-council-for-rule-of-law-and-anti-corruption/?q=council

https://president.gov.af/en/national-high-council-for-rule-of-law-and-anti-corruption-members/?q=council

 

September 2018 update

A special secretariat has been created for HCAC. (16/10/1396 Solar Date). In addition, it meets on monthly basis and as of September 2018, a total of 5 monthly meeting shave been conducted. Furthermore, HCAC also completed preparing a total of 53 action plans to fight corruption and it has been decided to collect reports of activities from different governmental entities. This office will then compile and publish their own report on biannually basis and its first copy has been published recently.

Source: President Office and AOP websites

https://president.gov.af/fa/General1/category/anticorruption?q=council

https://president.gov.af/en/about-national-high-council-for-rule-of-law-and-anti-corruption/?q=council

http://www.aop.gov.af/?cat=50

 

March 2019 update

Completed as of last reporting period and the council is holding its meetings. From end September to end of February, it has held a total of 5 meetings discussing governance and anti-corruption issues.

http://www.aop.gov.af/?cat=52

 

 
1
Commitments:
Establishing the Anticorruption Justice Centre.
Updates:

The Anti-Corruption Justice Center (ACJC) was announced to get established 5 May 2016. It has been a successful model of prosecution of grand corruption. It has held several open trials and convicted three dozens. However, it suffers from political interference from the palace and lack of resources.

https://unama.unmissions.org/afghan-anti-corruption-centre-established-un-support  

September 2018 update

Political interference and lack of resource continue at ACJC. However, it continues to prosecute corruption cases. It has heard 39 cases by 3 September 2018 and convicted around 122.

Source: data shared with Integrity Watch by ACJC through emails.

March 2019 update

 

Information available on Attorney General Office website shows the below breakdowns of proceedings on anti-corruption cases from 25 September to December 2018:

  1. 23 Primary Court Cases
  2. 20 Appeal Court Cases
  3. 12 High Court Cases

The data from January 2019 onward is not available yet.

The quarterly report of SIGAR launched on 30/October/2018 states on page 123 of the report on slow progress, interferences and lack of prosecution of corruption cases involving politicians.

https://ago.gov.af/en/node/4133

https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/quarterlyreports/2018-10-30qr.pdf

1
Commitments:
Deploying public-private information sharing partnerships to bring together governments, law enforcement, regulators and the financial sector to detect, prevent and disrupt money laundering linked to corruption.
Updates:

Financial Transactions and Report Analysis Center of Afghanistan (FinTRACA) is a unit within the Afghanistan Central Bank that is mandated to put a check on money laundering and establish global relations to fight it. FinTRACA has signed MoUs with fifteen countries and most recently with China. In addition, The Central Bank of Afghanistan has recently stated that after five years Afghanistan has finally been removed from the gray list, of countries with questionable banking systems, by the Financial Action Task Force(FATF) However, watchdog organizations warn that Afghanistan has failed to take significant step to curb illicit financial flows.

September 2018 update:

The HCAC 6 Months Report states that the Ministry of Finance has been successful up to 50% to collect information about taxations and prevention of money laundering and an MoU has been signed between MoF, MoI and MoCI. Page 35 of HCAC 6 Months Report

In addition, the National Procurement Authority and Attorney General Office has signed MoU to share information that may result in fighting corruption.

 

March 2019 update:

An investigative report by a TV channel (Tolonews) highlights Saudi Rials cash flow to Afghanistan.

Further to that, a second report highlights the smuggling of cash US Dollar from Afghanistan to neighboring countries especially Iran which is under international sanctions.

https://www.tolonews.com/630-report/630-report-how-saudi%E2%80%99s-black-money-enters-afghanistan

https://www.tolonews.com/afghanistan/central-bank-concerned-about-outflow-usd-iran

1
Commitments:
Strengthening asset recovery legislation, including through no conviction-based confiscation powers and the introduction of unexplained wealth orders
Updates:

September 2018 update:

HCAC secretariat and Integrity Watch may start working on a joint policy brief to explore the possibility of introduction of such legislation.

 

March 2019 update:

Attorney General Office has prepared a draft asset recovery regulation and has been shared with Integrity Watch for comments.

 

July 2019 update:

The legislation is forwarded to Legislations committer under Second Vice President 

1
Commitments:
Joining the pilot initiative for automatic exchange of beneficial information.
Updates:

No progress as of March 2019. 

1
Commitments:
Participating in an Innovation Hub that will facilitate the uptake of new approaches and technologies to tackle corruption
Updates:

September 2018 update:

Although not a general practice within all government systems but according to HCAC 6 Months Report, the Bio-metric process of identifying and registering exact number of forces at the Ministry of Interior and Defense has started to tackle corruption issues and also avoid ghost employees/payees.

The process of electronic payment system has also initiated a considerable percentage of MoI and MoD officials have received their salaries through the banking system.

(HCAC 6 Months Report, page 18-19)

In addition, Ministry of Finance has received membership of Confederation of Asia Pacific Accountants a platform intended to curb corruption in the public finance sector.

 

March 2019 update:

Afghanistan has signed an MOU with Azerbaijan and has created a simplification of business processes. It is called Asan Khedmat.

1
Commitments:
Establishing accessible central databases of companies with final convictions
Updates:

National Procurement Authority has established a central repository of all those companies who have been debarred in the past but have completed their debarment period, or are currently under debarment sanctions and cannot participate in public procurement, or are under debarment process right now but the final decision is yet to be made. The data about such companies are fully open and it can be accessed through NPA website.

 

Update March 2019:

NPA continued to put the same feature in their new ageops.net database and information of debarred companies are available. There is no publishing of debarred or convicted owners of company at the AGO website yet.  

https://ageops.net/en/procurement-procedure/contract/awarded

1
Commitments:
Afghanistan’s general directorate of physical education and sport has not been very active overall. They have not so far joined the international sport integrity partnership.
Updates:

Joining the International Sport Integrity Partnership

No progress on this commitment as of March 2019. 

1
Commitments:
Undertaking IMF Fiscal Transparency Evaluation,
Updates:

As of March 2019, no progress on this commitment. 

1
Commitments:
Signing up to the Common Reporting Standard initiative on taxation.
Updates:

As of March 2019, no progress on this commitment. 

1
Commitments:
Joining the Addis Tax Initiative.
Updates:

Afghanistan has joined the Addis Tax Initiative in April 2018 and is a member of it now.

1
Commitments:
Launching a practitioner partnership on institutional integrity, coordinated by the OECD.
Updates:

As of March 2019, no update. 

 

1
Commitments:
No update as of March 2019.
Updates:

Working with other countries, including Bulgaria, to build on existing capacity building programs between their Ministries of Interior, incorporating a new focus on practitioner exchange and trainings of internal anti-corruption bodies.

1
Commitments:
To working together to enhance company disclosure(regarding payments to governments for the sale of oil, gas and minerals), complementing on­going work within the EITI, reporting progress via the Open Government Partnership or EITI working groups, exploring the scope for a common global reporting standard, and working together to build a common understanding and strengthen the evidence for transparency in this area.
Updates:

The draft mining law has not been approved and ratified. This has handicapped the ministry to take actions against company that have serious issues.

The government has published mining contracts with different companies in three categories:
1. Small scale contracts
2. Aynak copper contract and Oil and Gas contracts. But not all contracts have been uploaded.

The ministry has not been able to create a single revenue account from all the ministry. 

Update March 2019:

As of launching the transparency portal by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, the EITI has also appreciated the launch of this portal. See provided link: https://bit.ly/2YrqVLh 

 

1
Commitments:
Supporting voluntary disclosures through EITI reporting and by some major companies regarding payments to governments for the sale of oil, gas and minerals.
Updates:

Supporting voluntary disclosures through EITI reporting ​and by some major companies regarding payments to governments for the sale of oil, gas and minerals.

 

Update March 2019:

Afghanistan works on the 6th report on AEITI during this reporting period.

In addition, Afghan Ministry of Mines has created an online portal to publish production and payment data of mineral, oil and gas sale.

 

Update July 2019:

6th AEITI report has been published in June 2019. 

https://afghanistan.revenuedev.org/license

https://bit.ly/2YrqVLh

 

 

1
Commitments:
Supporting the establishment of an OECD Anti­-corruption center to strengthen the impact and coherence of the OECD existing anti­-corruption work.
Updates:

As of March 2019, there has been no update regarding this commitment. 

1
Commitments:
Working towards phased implementation of the principles of the Open Contracting Data Standard, focusing on major projects as an early priority.
Updates:

The National Procurement Authority of Afghanistan has signed a trilateral agreement with Open Contracting Partnership-OCP and Integrity Watch Afghanistan-IWA to implement OCDS in Afghanistan. With the technical support of OCP, NPA has managed to complete the first draft of field level mapping and systems mapping in accordance with the OCP guidelines. Furthermore, all the data points of the five stages of Open Contracting Data Standards-OCDS have been considered to be captured in Afghanistan’s procurement systems. In addition to the major data points of OCDS, NPA has managed to establish a comprehensive Contract Progress Monitoring System for the fifth stage of OCDS i.e. contract implementation. At this stage all the required information is being published about above threshold projects in NPA’s website, however, preparation of API is in progress and will be gradually become publicly accessible.

Furthermore, the OCP and World Bank-WB’s joint mission visited Afghanistan from 14th July 2017, till 23rd July 2017 to conduct the initial Open Contracting Assessment in Afghanistan. Through this assessment the level of contract openness will be assessed in both the demand and supply sides in the country. The assessment report will be finalized in September 2017 and will provide NPA with specific recommendations for fulfilling Open Contracting Data Standards.

Update September 2018:

National Procurement Authority completed the development of a platform that contains OCDS standards on information disclosure. The platform was launched on August 8, 2018.

Source: http://www.npa.gov.af/da/news   

 

Update March 2019:

The National Procurement Authority of Afghanistan has planned in their Anti-Corruption Action Plan for the year 1398 (2019) to improve publication of information and procurement contracts based on the principles of the Open Contract Data Standard (OCDS).

National Procurement Authority completed the development of a platform that contains OCDS standards on information disclosure. The platform was launched on August 8, 2018.

The National Procurement Authority of Afghanistan has planned in their Anti-Corruption Action Plan for the year 1398 (2019) to improve publication of information and procurement contracts based on the principles of the Open Contract Data Standard (OCDS).

National Procurement Authority completed the development of a platform that contains OCDS standards on information disclosure. The platform was launched on August 8, 2018.

Source: https://ageops.net/en/procurement-procedure/contract/awarded

 

1
Commitments:
Exploring ways of sharing information on corrupt bidders across borders.
Updates:

National Procurement Authority-NPA, initiated the process to pave the way for cross-border debarment. However, since different countries have different legal and regulatory environments which are specific to the context and requirements of those countries, therefore, cross-border debarment has become a near to impossible practice. There were discussions on this with MDBs too, but they also think that it is impossible as there are different legal environments in different countries. Therefore, despite full openness of Afghanistan for cross-border debarment, the feasibility of this practice seems near to zero percent at this moment as it requires a coordinated regional and global action.

The commitment stays inactive. There has been no update recently. 

1
Commitments:
Supporting the development of a global commitment for public country by country reporting on tax information for large multinational enterprises.
Updates:

There has been no progress on this commitment. 

1
Commitments:
Establishing public central registers of company beneficial ownership information.
Updates:

Two separate but related initiatives are underway to establish the legal framework for registering of beneficial ownership in Afghanistan. Afghanistan EITI started to work on beneficial ownership one year back with an exclusive focus on companies active in the extractive sector. A roadmap has been prepared and some progress has been made.

However, the mining law has not been amended to encompass beneficial ownership registration.

Afghanistan Central Business Registry (ACBR) has come up with a new website that published shareholders of the companies. In addition, ACBR, as well as National Procurement Authority as well as a civil society organization, Integrity Watch Afghanistan, have prepared a proposal for the government on introducing beneficial ownership registration and publication across the sectors. The proposal is depending the High Economic Council’s approval before actual work on development of a legislation begins.

 

September 2018 update:

Afghanistan mining law has been recently passed by the cabinet that obliges contractors to declare their beneficial ownership. 

https://president.gov.af/fa/2018/09/05 

 

March 2019 update:

Ministry of Mines and Petroleum had made a portal for mining contract holder’s information and recently it has uploaded details of contractors in this portal.  The portal states it will publish beneficial owners of contracts in the future.

National Procurement Authority of Afghanistan also launched a new database that besides applying all 5 data standards of Open Contracting Partnership, the list of companies and name of contractors are publicly available.

 

https://afghanistan.revenuedev.org/license

https://eiti.org/blog/afghanistans-transparency-portal-window-on-mining-oil-projects?fbclid=IwAR2K3yVO1E8R6GxL3KBjQJfZUgfQvYNyNJP_k8hrXKWxiYlMIrnHUAp-f_I

https://ageops.net/en/procurement-procedure/contract/awarded

1
Commitments:
Common principles governing the payment of compensation to the countries affected, to ensure that such payments are made safely, fairly and in a transparent manner
Updates:

No updates.

1
Commitments:
Developing internationally endorsed guidelines for the transparent and accountable management of returned stolen assets.
Updates:

Update March 2019:

Attorney General Office has prepared a draft asset recovery regulation and has been shared with Integrity Watch for comments.

 

Update July 2019:

The draft regulations has been submitted to legislation committee headed by Second Vice President Sarwar Danish. 

1
Commitments:
Ensuring that law enforcement agencies have full and effective access to beneficial ownership information for companies and other legal entities registered within their jurisdiction.
Updates:

Ensuring that law enforcement agencies have full and effective access to beneficial ownership information​ for companies and other legal entities registered within their jurisdiction.

As of March 2019, no update. 

1
Commitments:
Taking steps to ensure transparency of the ownership and control of all companies involved in property purchase and public contracting. Supporting the establishment of transparent central registers of foreign companies bidding on public contracts and buying property, and intend to explore options for taking similar action.
Updates:

No update.

1
Commitments:
Working with other countries, civil society, international organizations to support accelerated implementation of the voluntary provisions of the UN Convention Against Corruption.
Updates:

Afghanistan joined UNCAC in 2004 and the convention was ratified by the Parliament and signed by the President in 2008. The law is gazette in the Ministry of Justice Website here.

The Afghan government placed a mechanism to implement the UNCAC. However, the convention has been reflected in a few laws, in particular, the Criminal Law Working Group has specifically referenced the implementation of the UNCAC in the draft anti-corruption law. The draft anti-corruption law has adopted a few major provisions of the UNCAC including independence of the anti-corruption body.

In addition, the Afghan government has established a specialized prosecutorial body for the major corruption cases, another provision of the UNCAC.

As of March 2019, no further update.