Non-Enforcement

The allegations of cover-up of disclosures and of reprisals against whistleblowers usually involve allegations of non-enforcement of the rule of law. In short, double standards are more often than not at play.

This may also involve wilful blindness by the watchdog authority as to the wrongdoing that is before it. The type of defences used by watchdog authorities, that may, allegedly, have been intended to avoid the force of the law on favoured government appointments, include some alleged rationales that themselves may define the depth of corruption to which the agency , the watchdog and the government are prepared to descend. That is:

• enforcing the law is not in the public interest;
• the non-enforcement of the law is a matter of policy, not of law; and
• everyone knows that the law is not being enforced by the government, so no misconduct is involved.

What can be instructive of this aspect of alleged corruption of the government is to obtain, through Right to Information processes, the job applications for senior positions within watchdog authorities.

The responses to selection criteria about the work of those positions can be inspected as to whether the applicant expresses an attitude to be energetic in investigating breaches of the law, or whether the applicant expresses an intention to ‘be practical’ or face up to ‘political realities’ or, with other words, express an agility with respect to the response taken to breaches of the law.

Identifying the answer given by the applicant chosen for the position can be an indicator as to the leadership culture of that watchdog authority.