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By Michael Sidwell
| On 17 February, Transparency International (TI) held its 2008 Integrity Awards ceremony in London. Now in its seventh year, the Integrity Awards honour the courage and drive of individuals and organisations around the world to tackle corruption. This year’s winners are two outstanding investigative journalists, David Leigh and Roman Shleynov, whose ceaseless efforts to expose corruption have been both invaluable and an inspiration to the anti-corruption movement. |
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David Leigh,
Investigations Editor, The Guardian (UK)
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| David Leigh’s extensive reporting on foreign bribery in business, his exposure of corruption allegations in projects guaranteed by the UK’s Export Credit Guarantees Department as well as political corruption in the UK, underline his dedication to a multi-faceted problem. Since 2004, Leigh’s landmark investigations into alleged bribery by British Aerospace Systems (BAES) in relation to the UK-Saudi Al Yamamah arms deal, as well as deals with other countries, has laid bare how developed countries may be complicit in fuelling corruption in developing nations. |
His untiring pursuit of the truth has also helped journalists in other countries to report on accusations involving BAES and their own governments.
Roman Shleynov
Investigations Editor, Novaya Gazeta (Russia)
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| From embezzlement by a former Russian nuclear energy minister to billions of black market cigarettes en route to Europe, Roman Shleynov focuses almost exclusively on exposing the corrupt bonds between business and politics. His independent reporting and investigative expertise at Novaya Gazeta has brought Shleynov to the attention of Russia’s Federal Security Service (the former KGB) on several occasions. |
Since 2000, Novaya Gazeta has seen four of its journalists brutally murdered, including three who worked on corruption stories. The well-respected paper is known for its independent, investigative reporting, and has exposed incidences of high-level corruption in Russia, where the majority of the media is state controlled.
The ceremony
| In a laudatory speech, Huguette Labelle, TI Chair, described Leigh and Shleynov as: “Two journalists of conviction, of integrity, who – through their work – have dedicated themselves to a relentless pursuit of the truth about those that propel and permit corruption. They have navigated through murky waters and investigated powerful forces to penetrate secret webs, expose failed accountability and show how corruption diminishes the functioning of our societies.” |
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Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, and TI Advisory Council member, gave a keynote speech on corruption and human rights, stating: “The cost of corruption in terms of human rights cannot be over-emphasised, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized people in our societies.”
The great personal risk that anti-corruption activists and journalists face in some parts of the world was of particular poignancy at the ceremony. Sion Assidon, Chair of the 2008 Integrity Awards Committee, paid homage to one of TI’s first Integrity Award winners, Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga. Shot dead in January by unidentified gunmen, Wickramatunga fearlessly unmasked corrupt dealings and practices in a country that was ranked 165th out of 173 countries in media rights group Reporters Without Border’s 2008 Press Freedom Index – the lowest ranking of any democratic country.
Past winners
The holistic approach necessary to effectively tackle corruption is embodied in the diverse backgrounds of TI Integrity Award winners. From accountants and public prosecutors to government officials and pharmacologists, their backgrounds may be diverse, but the message is the same: corruption can be beaten.
The 2007 awards recognised the unflinching dedication of Le Hien Duc, a retired Vietnamese school-teacher and resourceful anti-corruption fighter, and Professor Mark Pieth, a criminal law and criminology professor at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Duc tackles petty bribing and large-scale graft by filing complaints and helping fellow citizens in spite of physical threats and warnings. Pieth meanwhile has an outstanding track record in fighting corruption on an international scale, not only as a co-founder of the Basel Institute on Governance, but as chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions and as a member of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme of the United Nations.