Roadmap to Taming Corruption Outlined

President Ebrahim Raeisi on Wednesday declared the principles of a national roadmap for preventing and combating administrative and economic corruption in the government.
“Preventing corruption is specifically the duty of the government while the judiciary is in charge of dealing with relevant legal cases,” he told the Cabinet, President.ir reported. 
He added that state authorities are responsible to prevent corruption so as to reduce the number of cases that reach the judicial system.
He said his administration’s major goal from the first day was to identify and eliminate the grounds for corruption. 
Along this line, he held meetings with watchdog organizations within the three branches of power and other sectors, asking them to submit reports about structures that give rise to corruption.  
“These reports reached the government a short while ago and were given to a special working group,” Raeisi said. 
The working group drew up guidelines for different state entities with regard to the prevention and fight against corruption, according to the president, and put it together as a “national roadmap” whose 12 articles were read out to the Cabinet in the Wednesday meeting. 

Improving transparency, meritocracy and support for law-abiding activities were among the principles of the national roadmap. 
It called for efforts to “prevent conflicts of interest” between the public and private sectors or among companies to which public services are outsourced. 
Promoting a sense of responsibility and responsiveness, using the capacities of the media to improve public sensitivity and oversight, and support for those who reveal corruptive activity constituted another article of the document. 
It is essential, according to the roadmap, to reform the structure of the government and prevent its unbalanced growth while reducing complicated administrative procedures. 
Facilitating the procedures of issuing permits and making inquiries in state organizations is among the guidelines to help prevent corruption. 
The roadmap instructs relevant authorities make use of information technology to develop electronic government services and minimize the need for direct contact as well as create a single window for public services. 
Reforming the supply chain by reducing the distance between producers and end consumers, besides reforming the pricing system for pubic goods and services are other essential methods to prevent corruption, according to the document. 
The roadmap requires integrating financial and economic data to improve the government’s general knowledge of that sector. 
It also necessitates effective and efficient monitoring through the use of online and smart technologies, along with quick and strict prosecution to prevent a tendency toward fraud.