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Preventing Corruption in the
Construction and Civil Engineering industry
Neill Stansbury's
14th.
March 2006
Anyone who was unfortunate enough to miss the talk by Neill Stansbury on the prevention of corruption, which followed the Branch Annual General Meeting on the 14th March, missed a real treat. This must have been one of the most interesting and informative talks of the year.
In his quiet unassuming way, Neill revealed some startling facts on corruption that currently riddles the business world - both nationally and internationally. Neill started his talk with the position on the international front before turning to the domestic side. The shameful and unacceptable fact is that corruption is largely to blame for world poverty and, it appears, that those in the construction industry are the worst offenders. The World Bank estimates that corruption accounts for a loss of no less than 1.3 trillion dollars in any one year - a staggering figure.
Within the construction industry, infrastructure contracts are apparently where the corruption is most rife, followed by defence contracts and those relating to the provision of power supplies. Within these contracts, corruption appears primarily in the methods used for specification, in procurement and execution. It is not difficult to see how the opportunities arise. Moreover, it is not limited to the construction aspect. There is as much opportunity and use even within the maintenance operations of the completed contracts.
Turning briefly, to the domestic sector, Neill outlined the different forms of corruption that can, and often do, arise. Neill gave a number of examples of where and how Bribery, Fraud, and False accounting, amongst other matters, frequently arise. Whilst in the international field it appears that considerable steps are being taken to prevent, or at least reduce, the amount of fraud, the enforcement of the law domestically remains weak.
In such a short review, I cannot begin to do justice to the intriguing contents of this talk. In brief, it was an excellent talk, excellently delivered by someone who clearly knows his subject backwards. We are truly indebted to him and I would hope that he will be invited to, and be able to, attend for another talk, perhaps next year. If Neill can come and talk to us again, do not miss his talk at any cost.
Report by Rod O'Driscoll