Share Story
AMMAN — Chairman of the Jordan Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission (JIACC) Muhannad Hijazi on Wednesday said that modern technology plays a "distinguished" role in preventing and combating corruption.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of a regional workshop on the role of technology in preventing and combating corruption, Hijazi said that corruption crime detection requires "advanced" technology to prove their occurrence, which expedites procedures and contributes to the accurate completion of tasks within an acceptable timetable away from bureaucratic procedures that are often "a fertile environment for committing corrupt violations".
He noted that the JIACC, in implementation of the Royal vision, has been integrating the available technology to detect corruption crimes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The chairman noted that the JIACC has launched a digital support directorate, which provides technical assistance and digital intelligence and helps law enforcement teams to retrieve data.
On the government's role in supporting JIACC’s efforts in this field, he said that the necessary funds have been allocated to its several e-transformation enterprises, primarily the Digital Intelligence Project aimed to follow up on the compliance of public institutions with national integrity standards and following up on wealth growth.
He also referred to JIACC's "deep-rooted" cooperation and expertise transfer with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He lauded the project that the Jordan Customs Department intends to implement, titled "The Single Window" to unify procedures, connected by smart programmes that speed up transactions and facilitate procedures for service recipients.
UNDP Resident Representative Randa Abul-Hassan said that combating corruption and strengthening the rule of law are UNDP's priorities in Jordan and the region.
Abul-Hassan noted that this workshop focuses on exchanging modern expertise on technology integration to combat corruption, which comes at "a very appropriate time for Jordan and the participating countries".
She said that technology plays an important role in combating corruption, and contributes to the transparency, availability and accessibility of official data, which helps governments and the public monitor efficiency and integrity of services and enhance confidence in the country's political life.
Corruption is a “cross-border phenomenon”, as its local practices often leave impacts at regional and global levels, which makes it necessary to seriously seek to integrate technology to counter this challenge in a proactive manner, while benefiting from regional cross-border cooperation, coordination and knowledge exchange at the regional level, she added.
UNDP lauds the “huge potential” of modern technology in achieving sustainable development, she said, adding that its support for comprehensive digital transformation pushes digital technologies integration to solve "thorny" development challenges discussed by the workshop on the course of two days.
Eight Arab countries participated in the workshop with 60 representatives, including 40 who attended in person and 20 through videoconference.
