Integrity in government. Second report, Abuse of official trust: conflict of interest and related matters

Abstract

“The evil [of conflict of interest] is risk of impairment of impartial judgment, a risk which arises whenever there is temptation to serve personal interests. The quality of specific results is immaterial. In this sense, conflict-of-interest regulation is true to the fiduciary principle. Like other fiduciaries.. .the public trustee has a duty to avoid private interests which cause even a risk that he will not be motivated by the interests of the beneficiaries of his trust. Properly conceived, conflict-of-interest regulation does not condemn bad actions so much as it erects a system designed to protect a decision making process.... Its aim is not detection and punishment of evil, but providing safeguards which lessen the risk of undesirable action.” -The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Congress and the Public Trust, (1970). Show more