A word with engineers (2)
Conflict of interests is the root of immorality and corruption
The continuation of the note – the third part
Abbas Akhundi – October 2017
The former chairman of the Central Council, when his arrow hit the stone, using his position as the head of the construction commission of the parliament, along with a political movement, started planning my impeachment and personally spoke against my actions during the impeachment. However, the impeachment was not voted with the vigilance and sharpness of the respected members of the Islamic Council.
Then I tried to compile the building control regulation and during that I considered two amendments. One is to solve the problem of the conflict of interests of supervisor and inspector and the other is to eliminate the participation of provincial building engineering system organizations in the consultation of engineers. This was a conflict that arose from the involvement of a regulatory organization that should be independent with the interests of its members. I will tell the story of the first case independently. However, in the first step, I put the organization’s participation in the interests of engineers on the agenda. Because it was simpler. This participation in benefits was done by the prescription of the Minister of Housing and Urban Development at the time, under paragraph 16-3-1 of the Executive Regulations of Article 33 of the Law, which was published in the appendix of the second topic of the National Building Regulations (Administrative Systems). Therefore, its cancellation was at the discretion of the Minister of Roads and Urban Development. I did the same thing and revoked this organization’s partnership and intervention in the personal professional business affairs of the engineers through No. 55800/100/02 on 10/2/96. I knew it would be met with resistance. But, not so much!
Later, it turned out that the organizations had billions of income from this channel, and they distributed exorbitant salaries to their managers, hired a large group of engineers, and made other expenses. Again, the cries went up to the sky and various campaigns were formed with the payment of exorbitant costs and the declaration of the illegality of the issue was put on the agenda of the publicists. This time, the current chairman of the Central Council and a member of the Parliament’s Construction Commission was at the head of the opposition. It was clear that no illegal action had been taken and what had been announced was the same as the law. Therefore, despite taking complaints to the Court of Administrative Justice and other legal and regulatory authorities, no damage was done to the action taken. The chairman of the central council, using his representative position in the parliament, informed all the provinces not to implement the minister’s directives and was placed at the head of the violators. According to the authority derived from Article 23 of the Executive Regulations of the Law, I suspended the license of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Building Engineering System Organization of Tehran Province, which had the most violations. He also filed a complaint to seize my suspension notice, but he did not succeed because it was completely legal. Now, I faced a frequent question, why don’t you deal with the head of the central council who officially and openly gives orders to violate the regulations and deal with the lower reaches? Of course, it was and is a valid question.
At the same time, I received a letter from the General Inspection Organization in February of last year that accepting the presidency of the Central Council at the same time as representing the parliament is in conflict. Because the organization is supervised by the Minister of Roads and Urban Development, while the representative, as a member of the Islamic Council, is in the supervision of the ministers, and in fact, the supervisor and the meaning have become one. I immediately sent the matter to the Islamic Council for its opinion. However, I have not received any comments yet. However, this conflict of interest should also be resolved. Although carrying out reforms and fighting corruption in the country is a rocky and difficult road, I have chosen it with knowledge and awareness. I will talk to you again. so long live.
End
@AbbasAkhoundi
This post is written by Soheilsoleymanzade