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
.