DATE=10/7/98
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-41546
TITLE=CORRUPTION INDEX
BYLINE=PAMELA TAYLOR
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: ACCORDING TO A RECENTLY PUBLISHED ANNUAL 'CORRUPTION
PERCEPTION INDEX', SCANDINAVIAN GOVERNMENTS ARE THE LEAST CORRUPT
OF 85 COUNTRIES SURVEYED AROUND THE WORLD. THE INDEPENDENT
BERLIN-BASED GROUP CALLED 'TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL' SAYS THIS
YEAR ITS INDEX RANKS DENMARK, SWEDEN AND FINLAND RANKED AT THE
TOP OF THE SCALE AS THE LEAST-CORRUPT WITH AFRICAN AND LATIN
AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS AT THE BOTTOM. VOA'S PAMELA TAYLOR HAS MORE
IN THIS BACKGROUND REPORT.
TEXT: PETER EIGEN, THE FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF 'TRANSPARENCY
INTERNATIONAL' EXPLAINS THAT THE INDEX IS DESIGNED TO MEASURE HOW
CORRUPT COUNTRIES ARE 'PERCEIVED' TO BE, NOT HOW CORRUPT THEY
ACTUALLY MIGHT BE:
// ACT ONE TAYLOR/EIGEN //
(EIGEN) IT DOES NOT PRETEND TO BE A JUDGEMENT ABOUT
CORRUPTION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. IT IS A COMPILATION
OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE. THOUSANDS OF
OTHER PEOPLE: BUSINESSMEN, MEDIA, OBSERVERS,
ANALYSTS. AND THESE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ASKED TO GIVE
THEIR OPINIONS TO TWELVE DIFFERENT OPINION POLLS. SO
OUR COMPILATION IS BASICALLY A POLL OF POLLS.
(TAYLOR) SO WHAT DID YOU FIND IN THIS SURVEY? WHO
RANKS AS THE TOP CORRUPT COUNTRY AND WHO IS DOING
PRETTY WELL?
(EIGEN) WELL MANY OF THE AFRICAN COUNTRIES, THE
POOREST COUNTRIES ARE DOING RELATIVELY BADLY THIS
YEAR. AND THE ONE WHICH IS DOING THE WORST THIS YEAR
IS CAMEROON. WE HAVE A SCORING FROM ONE TO TEN, WITH
TEN BEING THE BEST SCORE, WHICH HAS ONLY BEEN
ACHIEVED BY DENMARK. AND ONE BEING THE WORST AND
CAMEROON IS AT ONE POINT FOUR AND SO ON OUR LIST OF
85 COUNTRIES IS THE LAST.
(TAYLOR) AND WHERE DO COUNTRIES LIKE THE UNITED
STATES AND MORE DEVELOPED WESTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
FALL?
(EIGEN) WELL, THE UNITED STATES IS AT POINT 17, WHICH
IS SLIGHTLY SURPRISING. SOME OF THE SCANDINAVIAN
COUNTRIES ARE DOING BETTER, IT'S QUITE STRIKING THAT
DENMARK, FINLAND AND SWEDEN ARE THE FIRST THREE AND
THEN NEW ZEALAND, ICELAND, CANADA, SINGAPORE AND THEN
COME MOST OF THE WEST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, WITH
GERMANY AT NUMBER 15.
(TAYLOR) BUT YOU'RE SAYING IT IS 'PERCEPTION' ONLY
WHICH PLACES COUNTRIES THIS WAY?
(EIGEN) THE 'CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX' ASKED THE
QUESTION 'WHERE YOU DO YOU HAVE TO PAY MORE BRIBES?'
IN DENMARK OR IN BANGLADESH OR IN PAKISTAN? OR IN THE
UNITED STATES. WE DIDN'T ASK THE QUESTION 'WHERE DO
YOU EXPECT MORE BRIBES?' FROM AN EXPORTER FROM
BANGLADESH OR THE UNITED STATES OR FROM CANADA, OR
FROM GERMANY? THE LATTER QUESTION WILL BE ASKED ON A
FUTURE 'BRIBERY PROPENSITY INDEX.' THEREFORE, THE
ONLY THING YOU CAN SAY FROM THIS REPORT IS THAT IT IS
THE PERCEPTION OF THOSE POLLED THAT YOU HAVE TO PAY
MORE BRIBES TO DO BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES THAN
THEY HAVE TO PAY WHEN THEY GO TO DENMARK.
(TAYLOR) THE COUNTRIES WHICH (ARE) AT THE END OF THE
SCALE ON THIS INDEX TEND TO BE IN AFRICA AND LATIN
AMERICA. WHY NOT ASIA?
(EIGEN) WELL, THERE ARE COUNTRIES FROM ASIA,
INDONESIA IS VERY MUCH AT THE END. SO IS VIETNAM, SO
IS CHINA AND THE PHILIPPINES. BUT IN TERMS OF NUMBERS
THERE ARE INDEED A LARGE NUMBER OF VERY POOR COUNRIES
WITH RELATIVELY UNSTABLE GOVERNMENTS AND WEAK
ADMINISTRATIONS WHICH ARE PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE TO
CORRUPTION. AND THEREFORE THERE IS CLEARLY A
CORELATION BETWEEN THE POVERTY IN A COUNTRY AND THE
DEGREE OF CORRUPTION OF THEIR LEADERS.
(TAYLOR) APART FROM POVERTY ARE THERE OTHER CAUSES
THAT CAN BE ADDRESSED OR DO YOU SEE THE GLOBAL
RECESSION AS DRIVING MORE COUNTRIES TO TURNING TO
BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION?
(EIGEN) I WOULD SAY THAT BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION HAS
BEEN A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO THE GLOBAL RECESSION. I
WOULD SAY IT HAS BEEN FACTOR IN MANY COUNTRIES LIKE
INDONESIA, THAILAND, KOREA AND OF COURSE RUSSIA AND
UKRAINE AND OTHER COUNTRIES IN TRANSITION.
// END ACT //
PETER EIGEN'S 'TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL' IS NOT ALONE IN ITS
CONCERN ABOUT CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT. THE UNITED NATIONS
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM SAID IN A RECENT REPORT THAT CORRUPTION IS
BELIEVED TO SIPHON BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OUT OF DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMS EVERY YEAR. THE PARIS-BASED ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC
COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT - THE O-E-C-D -- HAS BEEN WORKING TO
MAKE TAX DEDUCTIONS ILLEGAL FOR BUSINESSES WHICH PAY BRIBES IN
OTHER COUNTRIES. THE FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT MAKES SUCH
DEDUCTIONS ILLEGAL IN THE UNITED STATES. (SIGNED)
NEB/PAM/DB/KL
07-Oct-98 6:22 PM EDT (2222 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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