OECD Holds Annual Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum

Flags of OECD Key country partners: Brazil, Indonesia, India, South Africa, China – Photo: Hervé Cortinat / OECD

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will host its annual forum on anti-corruption efforts virtually today.

The event, like last year’s, will focus on keeping corruption out of COVID-19 recovery efforts. Keynote speakers include the OECD’s secretary-general and anti-corruption government officials from several countries including Indonesia. Participants will present a broad variety of new, ostensibly artificial intelligence or otherwise tech-augmented, mechanisms for detecting corruption.

Indonesia’s COVID-19 recovery in particular has been troubled by graft: one cabinet-level official has already been convicted of funneling recovery funds, and the country has fallen several places in Transparency International’s corruption perception index since the start of the pandemic. In response, Indonesia’s anti-corruption authority (KPK) will likely tout their new “Jaga” application, which allows individuals to report fraud or bribery, at today’s forum.

While innovative, Jaga is unlikely to do anything to reduce graft in COVID-19 recovery efforts by itself. Complaints are still fed back into government channels for investigation, meaning that the success or failure of anti-corruption efforts still ultimately depends on KPK’s political capital. KPK continues to be sabotaged by political stakeholders in Indonesia, which makes the prospect of Jaga salvaging the country’s recovery efforts unlikely.