Corruption Stories Prominent in International Press Reports
Jun 16th, 2008 • Posted in: NewsReports say corruption continues to deepen poverty and siphon off national budgets; China still in turmoil over graft allegations in wake of quake; in Israel, public perceptions of corruption paint grim picture
VARIOUS DATELINES
A variety of reports highlighted corruption issues last week. Among them:
- Small-scale corruption is widespread and contributing to massive poverty throughout Asia, according to a United Nations report. Titled “Tackling Corruption, Transforming Lives,” the report focuses on how petty bribery and graft prevent the delivery of essential services to the poor, according to the International Herald Tribune. The report is the most recent effort to enlist nations into the 2005 U.N. Convention Against Corruption. Only 10 of 19 Asian-Pacific signatories to the convention actually have ratified it.
- Uproar over allegations that corruption and shortcuts contributed to the disproportionate death toll among students in schools flattened by last month’s China earthquake — which left many better-built buildings only lightly damaged — continued last week as police cordoned off quake-hit schools and towns, according to TIME magazine. Correspondent Audra Ang, filing from the city of Juyuan, reports that police have barred entry to two towns, detained a reporter from Singapore, and rounded up parents who had planned a memorial service.
- A new survey shows public confidence in Israel’s politicians and political institutions has plummeted, reports the Jerusalem Post. Among the results of the so-called Democracy Index: 90 percent of the respondents believe that Israel is tainted with corruption and 51 percent believe that in order to reach the top of the political totem pole in Israel, a politician must be corrupt. Only 1 percent of respondents believe that there is no corruption in Israel, according to the Post.
- Nigeria’s Senate voted unanimously last week to install Farida Waziri, a retired high-ranking police officer, as head of the nation’s anticorruption unit. The Voice of America reports that the appointment is not without controversy: The previous chief of the Economic and Financial Crimes Division was reassigned after what his critics claimed was an overreaching campaign. Some, reports VOA, are claiming that Waziri had the backing of some governors currently under investigation, a charge that Waziri denies. According to some estimates, half of Nigeria’s budget is looted or wasted.
- A senior Russian prosecutor last week said that corruption siphons off about a third of the government’s annual budget — something in the neighborhood of $120 billion — according to a report from Forbes. Russia ranks 143 out of 179 nations on the 2007 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.
Sources: International Herald Tribune, June 12 — TIME, June 12 — Jerusalem Post, June 12 — Voice of America, June 12 — Forbes, June 12.
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