There is now a growing level corruption occurring across borders, and international partnerships are essential in understanding and combating the serious and systemic crimes, according to the head of Australia’s corruption watchdog.

“Anti-corruption agencies in various countries, like Australia and South Korea, to be in contact and to cooperate with other agencies are now very important. So we can learn from each other and understand things we have to work on,” Philip Moss, Integrity Commissioner of the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

The ACLEI became the eighth member of the Anti-Corruption Agency Forum after being approved for membership at the general meeting on Monday.

Launched in 2007, ACLEI’s jurisdiction now includes preventing, detecting and investigating corruption issues in the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and the Australian Federal Police.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is also part of the Integrity Commissioner’s jurisdiction.

Over the last six years, the ACLEI has been focused on corruption in the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. And as a result of an on-going investigation together with Australian Federal Police, the watchdog has led to 22 arrests involving corrupt conduct at the Sydney International Airport, and five arrests of Customs and Border Protection officers, according to the Australian commissioner.

“We have a particular expertise with law enforcement integrity. We want to bring that expertise and knowledge to this forum,” he said, noting that the ACA Forum is an opportunity to share each agency’s approach to detection and investigation against corruption.

“I look forward to hearing from international counterparts how they approach corruption controls in the future,” he added.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)