The anti corruption NGO, Transparency International, applauds the decision by the new United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to release his personal financial records.
He will be the first UN leader to do so publicly. In addition, Ban also has encouraged other high-level UN officials to disclose their finances publicly.
– We celebrate this gesture of open disclosure of information as a move toward greater transparency and accountability within the UN, said David Nussbaum, Transparency International Chief Executive.
– Alongside Ban, we also urge others – inside and outside of the UN – to follow this example, Nussbaum said.
UN guidelines call for all high-level UN staff members to disclose their personal financial records to an ethics unit, but they are not required to make them public.
The Secretary-General, however, is an elected official, and not a member of the UN staff, so he has no legal obligation to file.
Ban, a former foreign minister of South Korea, was required to file disclosure statements as a part of his role in the South Korean government.
Transparency International has been working on the issue of political corruption for several years, developing mechanisms that can help prevent corruption involving people in positions of power.
Kilde: www.transparency.org
