What is the role of anti-corruption commissions?

The role of
all anti-corruption commissions, institutions, and agencies worldwide is simple; they exist
mainly to detect, investigate, prevent, and fight all forms of corruption and to promote
transparency and intelligibility. Another important role of anti-corruption commissions is to
educate the public about corruption in general and to come up with various anti-corruption
strategies and programs to battle corruption and fraudulenceboth locally and nationally, and
even internationally. Today, there are nearly 200 anti-corruption commissions and agencies
around the world.

The first anti-corruption commission was established in
1952 in Singapore, and it is known as the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau; this was
followed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, which was founded in 1967, and the
Independent Commission Against Corruption in Hong Kong, which was established in 1974. According
to many analysts, the anti-corruption commissions in Singapore and Hong Kong are the most
successful and most efficient anti-corruption institutions in the world.

In
order to be effective, anti-corruption commissions should be independent and objective
investigative bodies which are reinforced by the state. They should also be established by some
kind of a law which guarantees their stability, endurance, and continuance. Anti-corruption
commissions are usually formed during a political crisis or a corruption scandal or controversy;
however, most developing countries tend to form anti-corruption commissions in advance in order
to prevent such scandals from happening in the first place.