In his valedictory address to the two-day seminar, he also exhorted the CBI to increase its conviction rate in corruption cases.

The wide range of changes in the Prevention of Corruption Act that the minister mooted included a provision for 'statutory protection for whistleblowers and victim protection'.

Endorsing the chief justice's call for seizure of corrupt officials' ill-gotten properties, Moily said: 'The Corrupt Public servants (Forfeiture of Property) Bill as suggested by the Law Commission should be enacted without further delay.'

He also said: 'There should be no need for prior sanction to prosecute a public servant who has been trapped red-handed or found in possession of assets disproportionate to known sources of income.'

The other changes that Moily suggested included immediate implementation of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 - a law enacted by the erstwhile Rajiv Gandhi government but yet to be implemented.

Moily also sought widening the anti-corruption law to include acts like 'violation of the oath of office, gross perversion and misuse of the constitutional provisions, abuse of authority by unduly favouring or harming someone, obstruction of justice, squandering public money and collusive bribery'.

He said, 'There is an emerging global consensus that fighting corruption and building 'good governance' are essential for the socio-economic development of any nation'.

'The prevalence of corruption undermines social cohesion, wider participation of citizens in economic and political processes, distorts allocation of resources and delivery of public services particularly damaging the interest of the poor and marginalised sections of society,' Moily added.