‘Abu-Ghazaleh Knowledge Forum’ Hosts Secretary General of the Arab Anti-Corruption Organization

AMMAN – Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Knowledge Forum (TAG-KF), a member of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global), hosted Dr. Amer Khayyat, secretary general of the Arab Anti-Corruption Organization (AACO), in a virtual session to discuss "The Status Quo in the Arab World in Terms of Anti-Corruption, Governance and Integrity", through live streaming on the Forum’s Facebook page. 

During the meeting, Khayyat stated that: "corruption and embezzlement of public funds in the last seven decades in the Arab countries have deprived the economic and social development process of huge sums of money that could have positively affected the construction of industrial, agricultural and service foundations in the region."

He also pointed out that political corruption is of no less importance than the financial corruption, since it leads to power monopoly; it prevents alternation of authority; it forestalls the principle of separation of powers and independent judiciary; it facilitates abuse of power and ballot vote fraud; and it spreads favoritism, favoritism, tribalism and sectarianism. He strongly warned  that the combination of money and political powers could results in corruption that threatens society and its stability.

Dr. Khayyat further affirmed that the AACO strives to enhance the democratic values in the Arab societies by raising and promoting awareness on the importance of combating corruption and protecting public interests and funds, exposing the detrimental effects of corruption on societal cohesion and sustainable development; as well as revealing the damages it inflicts on the national economy and wealth. That is in addition to urging citizens  and civil society organizations to actively participate in anti-corruption activities and to engage in promoting their cooperation in exposing all types of corruption. 

 “Today, we live in a world that is changing enormously where there is no hope for us to catch up with the civilization and advancements without shifting to a knowledge-based society,” Khayyat said, pointing out that "shifting into knowledge society requires sustained creative efforts to enable us to deal with ‘Knowledge’ as a production element that is similar to other elements including land, capital and people".

For his part, Mr. Fadi Daoud, Executive Director of TAG-KF and  TAG.Global Education and Youth Consultant, who moderated the session, pointed out that the meeting was organized in conjunction with the International Anti-Corruption Day marked on December 9 every year, with the aim of raising awareness on the impact of corruption on the and society in general.

It is worth mentioning that the Arab Anti-Corruption Organization (AACO) is a non-profit independent civil institution, duly established and registered in 2005 in the United Kingdom, with its headquarters being located in Beirut-Lebanon.