22 September 1998
(Transparency International vows to fight the scourge) (1070)
By Phillip Kurata
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- The world's leading non-government organization fighting
corruption says the battle to secure democracy, alleviate poverty and
sustain investment and commerce hinge on curbing corruption in
developing nations and across Central and Eastern Europe.
In releasing its 1998 corruption perceptions index, Transparency
International Chairman Peter Eigen says the index should serve as "an
incentive to governments to confront the corruption in their
countries. The new index illustrates how serious the global cancer of
corruption really is. This has to change."
This year's corruption perception index ranks 85 countries in the
group's most comprehensive survey since it was founded in 1993.
Transparency defines corruption as the abuse of public office for
private gain. The Berlin-based organization compiled its index from
multiple surveys of expert and general public views in many countries.
Transparency says its index deals with the perception of corruption,
not corruption itself, which Transparency says it does not have the
means to quantify.
The group urges the legislatures of the 29 members of the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and five other
countries in South America and Eastern Europe to ratify a treaty that
would criminalize bribery of foreign officials by multinational
corporations.
With its pioneering 1977 Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act, the United
States is the leading supporter of the OECD anti-corruption treaty.
Leaders of the U.S. Congress say they intend to approve its
ratification and pass legislation to implement it before the current
session ends in October.
"The first thing businesses should do is stop paying bribes. Most of
the major bribes in what we call grand corruption around the world are
the result of international corporations paying bribes to get
contracts," Transparency International Vice Chairman Frank Vogl said.
He says a huge silent majority of multinationals oppose the OECD
treaty. Transparency International says it wants to compile an index
ranking OECD governments for their tolerance of foreign bribery by
their multinational companies, but lacks sufficient data to do so.
Germany, for example, allows its corporations to write off foreign
bribes as tax deductions.
Following is Transparency International's 1998 corruption perception
index:
The Transparency International 1998 Corruption
Perceptions Index
Country 1998 Standard Surveys
Rank Country CPI Deviation Used
Score
1 Denmark 10.0 0.7 9
2 Finland 9.6 0.5 9
3 Sweden 9.5 0.5 9
4 New Zealand 9.4 0.7 8
5 Iceland 9.3 0.9 6
6 Canada 9.2 0.5 9
7 Singapore 9.1 1.0 10
8 Netherlands 9.0 0.7 9
Norway 9.0 0.7 9
10 Switzerland 8.9 0.6 10
11 Australia 8.7 0.7 8
Luxemburg 8.7 0.9 7
United Kingdom 8.7 0.5 10
14 Ireland 8.2 1.4 10
15 Germany 7.9 0.4 10
16 Hong Kong 7.8 1.1 12
17 Austria 7.5 0.8 9
United States 7.5 0.9 8
19 Israel 7.1 1.4 9
20 Chile 6.8 0.9 9
21 France 6.7 0.6 9
22 Portugal 6.5 1.0 10
23 Botswana 6.1 2.2 3
Spain 6.1 1.3 10
25 Japan 5.8 1.6 11
26 Estonia 5.7 0.5 3
27 Costa Rica 5.6 1.6 5
28 Belgium 5.4 1.4 9
29 Malaysia 5.3 0.4 11
Namibia 5.3 1.0 3
Taiwan 5.3 0.7 11
32 South Africa 5.2 0.8 10
33 Hungary 5.0 1.2 9
Mauritius 5.0 0.8 3
Tunisia 5.0 2.1 3
36 Greece 4.9 1.7 9
37 Czech Republic 4.8 0.8 9
38 Jordan 4.7 1.1 6
39 Italy 4.6 0.8 10
Poland 4.6 1.6 8
41 Peru 4.5 0.8 6
42 Uruguay 4.3 0.9 3
43 South Korea 4.2 1.2 12
Zimbabwe 4.2 2.2 6
45 Malawi 4.1 0.6 4
46 Brazil 4.0 0.4 9
47 Belarus 3.9 1.9 3
Slovak Republic 3.9 1.6 5
49 Jamaica 3.8 0.4 3
50 Morocco 3.7 1.8 3
51 El Salvador 3.6 2.3 3
52 China 3.5 0.7 10
Zambia 3.5 1.6 4
54 Turkey 3.4 1.0 10
55 Ghana 3.3 1.0 4
Mexico 3.3 0.6 9
Philippines 3.3 1.1 10
Senegal 3.3 0.8 3
59 Ivory Coast 3.1 1.7 4
Guatemala 3.1 2.5 3
61 Argentina 3.0 0.6 9
Nicaragua 3.0 2.5 3
Romania 3.0 1.5 3
Thailand 3.0 0.7 11
Yugoslavia 3.0 1.5 3
66 Bulgaria 2.9 2.3 4
Egypt 2.9 0.6 3
India 2.9 0.6 12
Bolivia 2.8 1.2 4
69 Ukraine 2.8 1.6 6
71 Latvia 2.7 1.9 3
Pakistan 2.7 1.4 3
73 Uganda 2.6 0.8 4
74 Kenya 2.5 0.6 4
Vietnam 2.5 0.5 6
76 Russia 2.4 0.9 10
77 Ecuador 2.3 1.5 3
Venezuela 2.3 0.8 9
79 Colombia 2.2 0.8 9
80 Indonesia 2.0 0.9 10
81 Nigeria 1.9 0.5 5
Tanzania 1.9 1.1 4
83 Honduras 1.7 0.5 3
84 Paraguay 1.5 0.5 3
85 Cameroon 1.4 0.5 4
Notes
1998 CPI Score
... relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by
business people, risk analysts and the general public and ranges
between 10 (highly clean) and
Surveys Used
... refers to the number of surveys that assessed a country's
performance. 12 surveys were used and at least 3 surveys were required
for a country to be included into the 1998 CPI.
Standard Deviation
... indicates differences in the values of the sources: the greater
the standard deviation, the greater the differences of perceptions of
a country among the sources.