Editorial
More authority for ACC
There must be guarantee against arbitrary action
The clear public sentiment is that the Anti-Corruption Commission ought to be doing its job, and doing it well. That it has so far failed to do that is not only depressing but also deeply disconcerting. We now understand that a raft of measures to re-energise the ACC is being contemplated, much of it aimed at empowering the body to seize the property of people alleged to be corrupt and to place the accused in detention. Rather intriguingly, the ACC itself is pondering the question of tagging the existing anti-corruption law to the infamous Special Powers Act.Our position on the issue of arming the ACC with new powers is clear. We believe firmly in the principle that the commission should be able to assert its authority, in these politically changed circumstances. Any grant of extraordinary powers, such as those being aired, can result in an arbitrary use of such authority. And once arbitrariness comes into the working of as important a body as the ACC, there is no knowing how far matters will go. More precisely, what guarantees will there be for the country that a grant of additional or plainly juridical authority to the ACC will not be applied wrongly against individuals perceived to be corrupt? Let us have a clearer picture of what might happen if the ACC is actually given the powers it wants to possess. The organization may detain a person and seize his property. But what happens if the matter is taken to court, the individual concerned is found not guilty and is then let off? The resultant disrepute the ACC might then come into cannot but be a gross instance of justice being made a travesty of. There are thus the pitfalls associated with any talk of granting extraordinary powers to the ACC. One of these would be to link the ACC Act, vis-à-vis detention of individuals, with the 1974 Special Powers Act. The SPA, by the way, has been a mechanism of arbitrary authority the nation has never been comfortable with. In the circumstances, we can refer to the best practice situations as they operate in Hong Kong. In India, the CBI has been doing effective work in investigating graft in high places and guaranteeing punishment of the guilty. These are precedents the ACC should work on rather than crave an enhancement of powers. For a so far under-performing ACC, the thought of additional authority coming to it is pretty disturbing.
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