NAYPYITAW — Myanmar’s Anti-Corruption Commission received more than 1,700 complaints of bribery and corruption in three months, most of them were filed against the Home Affairs Ministry.
The commission received 1,781 complaints from January 1 to March 30, and more than 500 of them were filed against the Home Affairs Ministry, according to the press conference of the commission on Saturday.
The judicial sector followed the Home Affairs Ministry with more than 300 complaints, followed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation with around 300 complaints, the Ministry of Education with 48 complaints, the Ministry of Border Affairs with 27 complaints, said member of the commission Daw Lei Lei Thwin.
“We investigated complaints and handed them over to concerned departments. We couldn’t address some complaints, and we have made a total of 261 replies, explaining why we can’t deal with them,” said Daw Lei Lei Thwin at the press conference.
The commission could not take action against 949 out of 1,781 complaints, as those complaints did not comply with the commission law, she said. And the commission handed 479 complaints over to concerned Union ministries, Union-level agencies and regional and state governments.
The commission is still verifying more than 300 complaints and currently investigating only 11 complaints.
The commission has an information team that is assigned to scan newspapers daily to search for media criticism and reports about corruption, said team leader U Han Nyunt.
“The [anti-corruption] law clearly states that the commission shall fight against corruption in cooperation with the media. So, the commission pays heed to the criticism and reports of the media every day,” said U Han Nyunt.
Ministries and regional and state governments are responsible under the Anti-Corruption Law to investigate and present a report to the commission within 60 days upon receiving complaints handed over by the commission.
Commission member U Khin Maung Myint stressed that it is important to send solid evidence and details when filing complaints.
“For example, complainants should provide details about how and why they were asked for money. They can submit video and sound files as evidence,” said U Khin Maung Myint.
In his inauguration address, newly elected President U Win Myint said that fighting corruption is one of the top priorities of his cabinet along with rule of law and socio-economic development of the people.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
