Indonesia gains better image in 1996
Indonesia gains better image in 1996
BERLIN (AFP): Nigeria, followed by Pakistan and Kenya, are perceived by businessmen as the world's most corrupt countries, Transparency International (TI), a Berlin-based body devoted to fighting corruption said yesterday.
Indonesia, which in the 1995 TI index was listed as the most corrupt country, gained a better image as the 1996 index listed it among the group of second most corrupt countries.
New Zealand, followed by Denmark and Sweden, were seen as the least corrupt, according to TI's second annual Corruption Perceptions Index.
The 1996 index, based on 10 different surveys reflecting businessmen's impressions and perceptions of 54 countries, attributes an "overall integrity rating" of zero to 10, with the most corrupt receiving the lowest figure and the least corrupt the highest.
"A 10 equals an entirely clean country while zero equals a country where business transactions are entirely dominated by kickbacks," TI said.
On the bottom end of this scale, the TI index gave a score of 0.69 to Nigeria, 1.00 to Pakistan and 2.21 to Kenya, followed by Bangladesh (2.29), China (2.43) and Cameroon (2.46). They were followed by Egypt, Colombia, Uganda, the Philippines and Indonesia, occupying the 41st to 45th position.
At the top end came New Zealand (9.43), Denmark (9.33) and Sweden (9.08), Finland (9.05), Canada (8.96) and Norway (8.87). In seventh position came Singapore (8.80), ahead of Switzerland (8.76).
Britain, Germany and Israel came in 12th, 13th and 14th position.
"To the extent that any country has a problem with its ranking, this lies not with the index but rather with the perception that businessmen polled apparently have of that country," TI said.
"Their perceptions may not always be a fair reflection on the state of affairs, but they are a reality."
TI emphasized that the findings do not necessarily mean Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world. "Nigeria is perceived by business people to be the most corrupt country which has been included in our list," it said.
Corruption was perceived to be on the increase in Argentina, China and Russia, among other countries, said index research chief Johann Graf Lambsdorff of Goettingen University, who cited Indonesia and Portugal for their anti-corruption efforts.
TI president Peter Eigen, a former senior World Bank official, stressed the important influence on developing countries of corrupt practices by multinational firms.
Eigen said that while corruption was seen as a problem of the developing world, most bribes associated with international contracts were paid by managers of firms based in the industrialized world.
He said it was a scandal that most of the governments of industrialized countries had not adopted laws to fight such practices.
The rankings seek to assess the degree of corrupt practices, but TI admits that the figures are not objective, saying this would be almost impossible given the concealed or secret nature of corruption.
TI refutes the notion that corruption is part of the culture of some countries -- often cited as the excuse for paying bribes -- and insists it is regarded as illegitimate behavior in all environments.
Corruption was defined as "the misuse of public power for private benefits, " such as the bribing of public officials, taking kickbacks in public procurement or embezzling public funds.
To compute its index, TI made a "poll of polls" using management and economic surveys augmented by replies to a Goettingen University Internet service and direct approaches to employees of multinational firms and institutions.