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)
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Source: Voice of America
.