Described as “a one-woman anti-corruption central” by the chair of the Integrity Awards committee and board member of TI, Sion Assidon, Le Hien Duc is a perfect example of how just one person really can make a difference in the fight against corruption. Since she retired from teaching in 1984, Duc has striven tirelessly to expose corruption and confront injustice in her beloved Vietnam.

Working from her home in Hanoi, Duc devotes her time to filing complaints with the authorities and helping fellow citizens to challenge corruption on all levels. Most of her US $80 a month pension is spent on internet, telephone, photocopying and taxi bills - necessary for waging, as she terms it, her ‘war against corruption’. And it is certainly a full-time campaign - she has a backlog of requests and petitions for help from nearly every province in Vietnam.

Whether it is allegations of petty bribery or large-scale graft, Duc pursues the claims until they are dealt with in a just manner. Her determination to ensure that citizens’ complaints receive the appropriate attention from the authorities has seen Duc track down and confront officials even at their own homes.

While Duc’s tireless efforts have brought her much gratitude and praise, she has simultaneously become the enemy of many. Along with death threats, she has received funeral wreaths and an empty coffin. Yet, despite such intimidation and warnings from her concerned family, the sprightly 75 year old refuses to give up her fight against corruption: “Someone must stop it, for the sake of justice,” she has told the Associated Press.

It is this steadfastness in the face of opposition and unflinching perseverance for justice that has made Duc an inspiration to many ordinary Vietnamese. Her work and success show that corruption often taken for granted can not only be confronted, but that it can also be beaten.

The same tenacity and dedication has been demonstrated by Professor Mark Pieth. A Swiss professor of Criminal Law and Criminology at the University of Basel, Professor Pieth has devoted almost his entire career to fighting corruption on an international scale.

He has been at the centre of the OECD’s anti-corruption efforts from the very beginning - from putting a stop to the tax-deductibility of foreign bribes in 1995, to the proposal and ratification processes of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. It is Professor Pieth’s bold leadership as chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions that has been crucial in driving the group and making the Convention a reality.

Cobus de Swardt, managing director of TI, praised Professor Pieth as being a key reason why the Convention is, “not just a tool but a weapon – a weapon to stop foreign bribery, to stem the supply-side of corruption and to hold people accountable for their bribing deeds.” De Swardt also commended Professor Pieth for his “courage to criticise even the most powerful parties” and opening up the monitoring process to civil society and the media, which he described as, “the gold standard for other treaty monitoring programmes.”

Despite high level attempts to remove him from the working group and suppress his blunt criticism, Professor Pieth has proven resilient to pressure and resolute in his condemnation of behaviour that undermines the Convention.

Other anti-corruption bodies and initiatives that Professor Pieth has been involved with include - among others - serving on the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Iraq Oil-for-Food scandal and organising and leading the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering. He is also a board member of the World Economic Forum Partnering against Corruption Initiative.

On the academic side, Professor Pieth is the founder and director of the Basel Institute on Governance and has published extensively on the subject of economic and organised crime, money laundering, corruption, sentencing and criminal procedure.

Le Hien Duc and Professor Mark Pieth join a list of prominent anti-corruption workers to win an Integrity Award. Past winners have come from Asia and Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. They have included journalists and public prosecutors, accountants, government officials and leaders of civil society.

To read more on the Integrity Awards and the current and past winners please click here.