Private firms skip anti-graft tool

More than five years after Transparency International launched Integrity Pact, no private company has implemented the watchdog’s anti-corruption tool that checks graft in public procurement.

However, 44 public sector undertakings (PSUs) have implemented it by entering into an agreement with Transparency International India. The first company to do was Oil and Natural Gas Corporation — in 2006.

The Integrity Pact consists of a process of signing an MoU between the government or a government department and bidders for a public sector contract. The contract consists of commitments that neither side will pay, offer, demand or accept bribes.

The report has made a case-study out of the pact leading Gas Authority of India to save Rs 361.62 crore.

 

Other PSUs that have benefited from the pact include Central Coalfields, South Eastern Coalfields, National Mineral Development Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation.

A move to make Sebi do a role to CVC failed, as the regulator said it was outside its existing legal framework.