YANGON—The Anti-Corruption Commission will open its first branch offices—in Yangon and Mandalay—next year, according to its secretary.
Replying to a lawmaker’s request for updates on the opening of branch offices, U San Win told lawmakers the agency plans to open offices in states and divisions each year depending on the available budget.
It currently has only one office, in Naypyitaw. A new Anti-Corruption Law enacted in June 2018 expanded the commission’s authority, allowing it to open offices in other states and divisions with the approval of the Union government, in order to be more effective and faster in handling complaints.
U San Win said the commission had submitted a restructuring proposal that would see the agency comprise two departments and include the two branch offices in Yangon and Mandalay regions. The Union government approved the plan in August.
The original Anti-Corruption Law was enacted in 2013 under the previous U Thein Sein government. It was amended three times—in 2014, 2016 and 2017—but the changes were insignificant. The new commission chaired by U Aung Kyi, a retired major-general and former minister of information, was formed in November 2017.
On International Anti-Corruption Day on Dec. 7, President U Win Myint announced he had approved the setting up of Corruption Prevention Units within government departments to oversee the anti-graft effort at the department level.
