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	GOPAC Thanks our Outgoing CEO Akaash Maharaj Akaash Maharaj has announced his decision to lead the Mosaic Institute
	Jakarta, Indonesia - Friday, 30 November 2018
	The Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption’s (GOPAC's) worldwide parliamentary membership is saddened to announce that Akaash Maharaj is standing down as our Chief Executive Officer; he will shortly become CEO of the Mosaic Institute. We offer him our sincerest thanks for his leadership of our global alliance. Akaash joined GOPAC in 2012. Over the course of his tenure, he led our alliance through unprecedented growth: we now have sixty-two national chapters and individual members in nearly every country of the world. He was responsible for our Manila Conference, the single largest parliamentary anti-corruption summit in history. The summit is notable in diplomatic affairs for the adoption of the Manila Declaration, on deploying new international instruments to bring the world’s worst kleptocrats to justice. The Declaration was unanimously endorsed by parliamentarians from different cultures, ethnicities, faiths, and political systems, including from India and Pakistan, from Iran and Iraq, and from Russia and Ukraine. In 2016, the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration invited Akaash to speak in the General Assembly Chamber on behalf of the world’s legislators, to call on national governments to implement the Declaration. Akaash also lifted our place among international institutions, negotiating official standing for GOPAC with the United Nations ECOSOC, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, amongst others. He extended GOPAC’s anti-corruption mandate to foster reconciliation between states. Just fifteen years after the end of the Yugoslav wars -- the bloodiest conflicts in Europe since the Second World War -- he launched GOPAC’s Balkan regional chapter. It brings together legislators from the states emerging from those wars, to join hands in common cause against corruption. Most recently, Akaash initiated GOPAC’s work on integrity in the international sport system, and he was called on by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Paralympic Committee to assist them in their governance reforms and responses to the Russian doping crisis. “The world’s legislators are tremendously grateful to Akaash Maharaj for his service to democracy, accountability, and the rule of law,” said GOPAC Chair the Hon Fadli Zon. “We are sorry he is stepping down as our CEO, but we are delighted he has agreed to continue lending us his expertise as GOPAC‘s Ambassador-at-Large. We offer him best wishes leading the Mosaic Institute.” For additional information, please contact: Anindita Kusuma Listya GOPAC Communications Officer +62 (878) 8856 9069 anindita.listya@gopacnetwork.org Editors’ Notes: Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) is a worldwide alliance of parliamentarians working together to combat corruption, strengthen good government, and uphold the rule of law. It has 62 national chapters across the world. GOPAC supports its members’ efforts through original research, global anti-corruption capacity building, and international peer support. GOPAC’s web site is www.gopacnetwork.org