Corruption in Singapore at lowest in over three decades: CPIB

Singapore: Corruption cases in Singapore dropped to their lowest level last year in over three decades, a state-run anti-corruption agency said on Wednesday.

According to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), it received 808 complaints in 2015, down from 877.

Of these, 118 cases or 14.6 percent of the complaints lodged last year were registered for investigation, the lowest in 32 years, said the CPIB, a government agency which investigates and prosecutes corruption in the public and private sectors.

Private sector cases continued to make up the majority of corruption cases in Singapore at 85 percent of all cases registered for investigation last year, it said, adding that it was a four percentage point down from 2015.

Public sector corruption cases remained low last year, accounting for 15 percent of all cases registered for investigation, local media reported citing CIPB data.

This was up from 11 percent in 2015, but CPIB noted that due to the small numbers, the 4 percentage point increase "is not significant".

Meanwhile, the CPIB and Spring Singapore, another state agency, jointly launched a new anti-bribery ISO standard to help local firms in expanding overseas.

Spring and CPIB said that one way to help businesses enhance anti-bribery controls was to have an effective compliance programme such as the new Singapore Standard ISO 37001.

The new Singapore Standard will help firms that are looking to internationalise to manage corruption risk.

"The voluntary standard that is based on internationally recognised good practices provides guidelines to help Singapore companies strengthen their anti-bribery compliance systems and processes and ensure compliance with anti-bribery laws," the two agencies said in a joint statement.

"With the operating environment becoming more complex, and corruption cases more transnational in nature, adopting the new SS ISO 37001 standard will help Singapore companies safeguard against bribery," said Wong Hong Kuan, CPIB director and convener of a working group under the Singapore Standards Council for anti-bribery management systems.

The Singapore standard is a national adoption of ISO 37001 that was developed by an International Organisation for Standardisation committee comprising representatives from 61 countries including Singapore.