Wednesday, March 8, 2017

TI Study Finds India Most Corrupt Country in Asia

A Transparency International (TI) study of 16 Asian countries, including India and Pakistan, has found that India has the highest bribery rate.  69% of survey respondents in India said they have paid a bribe, given a gift or done a favor to receive government services like education and health care. Vietnam follows with 65%, Thailand 41% and Pakistan 40%. China reported a much lower 26%.

Corruption in Asia. Source: Transparency International 2017


The Transparency International study released in March 2017 is part of a regional series for the Global Corruption Barometer.  22,000 people participated in the survey to answer questions about their recent experiences with corruption in 16 countries and territories in the Asia Pacific region.

The study found that Japan has the lowest incidence of bribery at 0.2 per cent. South Korea and Australia recorded 3% each, Hong Kong 2% and Taiwan 6%. While 46% to 60% of Indians say they paid bribes for various public services, including in public schools and hospitals and for getting IDs, voter cards and permits and accessing utilities and the police, 31% to 45% said they paid bribes for court services as well.

Unlike the rest of Asia, the poorest people are the biggest victims of corruption in India (73%), Pakistan (64%) and Thailand (46%).

Poor vs Rich Victims of Corruption in Asia. Source: TI

Pakistan fares worse than India in terms of bribes paid to police and courts but better in access to schools and health facilities.

The TI report said that "police top the list of public services most often demanding a bribe. Just under a third of people who had come into contact with a police officer in the last 12 months said they paid a bribe. Overall, 38 per cent of the poorest people surveyed said they paid a bribe, which is the highest proportion of any income group".

Although this report suggests Pakistan is doing better than its neighbor India, the corruption levels in Pakistan remain very high relative to more developed Asian economies. The worst part of it is that the poorest people who can least afford to pay bribes are the biggest victims of such corrupt practices. Fighting corruption requires a broad-based effort. The mass media need to play a role in exposing it; the lawyers and the judges need to do their part to address it. And the civil society at large needs to speak up whenever and wherever they see it.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Culture of Corruption in Pakistan

Panama Leaks, Musharraf and Sharifs

Pakistani Leaders in London After Panama Leaks

Culture of Corruption in Pakistan

Zardari Corruption Probe

President Pervez Musharraf's Legacy

We Hang Petty Thieves and Appoint Great Ones to High Offices

Capitalism's Achilles Heel by Raymond Baker

14 comments:

Ahmed F. said...

I am surprised at the understatement. I thought you were going to say India was the most corrupt country in the world, in addition to being the most divided country throughout history and the most racist country today, not just in South Asia but in the world as a whole. And not just now but throughout millennia.

It must give you enormous satisfaction to say all of those things.

But is anyone listening?

Does it change anything?

Riaz Haq said...

Ahmad: "It must give you enormous satisfaction to say all of those things."

I know it hurts you very personally and deeply to see anything negative about India.

But I blog about the current news topics and the TI report is in the news right now.

If you go beyond the headline and care to read what I wrote, you'll see that I am critical of corruption in Pakistan too and I suggest ways of dealing with it.

Ahmad F. said...

But the ratio of being critical of India versus being critical of Pakistan is what counts. There are plenty of people criticizing India. It does not hurt me at all. I am not Indian. I really don't study India so I don't say much about it.

Riaz Haq said...

Ahmad: "But the ratio of being critical of India versus being critical of Pakistan is what counts"


You and many others like you praise India and criticize Pakistan far more often at a bigger volume than I praise Pakistan and criticize India.

I try my bit in my feeble attempt to balance the situation.

Moeen said...

TI corruption index which includes bribes shows India ranked at 79 and Pakistan at 132 - the worst in South Asia !

Rashid A. said...

Something odd about this TI report.

India is better than Pak in TI's annual CPI report , but worse than Pak in this report!

Which one is to be believed?

Perhaps both, as they represent two different snapshots of reality!

Unknown said...

Hello sir, coming back after a long time. I just hope you approve my comments this time now.
Riaz: "I know it hurts you very personally and deeply to see anything negative about India.

But I blog about the current news topics and the TI report is in the news right now."
I think his point is other way.

You post the news & reports no problem but this report would never have been blogged if didn't show India Asia's most corrupt country.
The report is again biased though, completely different from
Perception of Corruption Index
Global Corruption Index

Nor anyone is going to get with it, India, Pakistan or Vietnam can't be more corrupt than Yemen, Syria, North Korea, Iraq or Afghanistan where government machinery is close to dysfunctional.

China is an authoritarian Regime, doesn't public most crime reports or other things to world. So, most reports for China become irrevalen, only China knows that.

This list is mainly centred towards bribery not major scams at high level corruption, that even on surveys. Surveys may only cover specific people who are frustrated or some specifc region.

So, let's not compare. Plenty of other reports turn list upside down. Specially for China.

Riaz Haq said...

MoA: "You post the news & reports no problem but this report would never have been blogged if didn't show India Asia's most corrupt country."

You are wrong. Just click on some of the related links to see how often I have blogged about serious corruption in Pakistan.

Unknown said...

Riaz: "You are wrong. Just click on some of the related links to see how often I have blogged about serious corruption in Pakistan."

May be, but that all about internal scams of Panama leaks etc..
You just criticized your government is normal in other countries including India too.

All I'm saying that comparison isn't fair. One report puts India as most corrupt, other pushes us out of top 100.

Many corruption cases are never known to world, so comparison isn't fair.

And sorry for replying late.

Riaz Haq said...

‘Over-invoicing by power companies’: PIL in Delhi HC seeks SIT probe against firms
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is currently investigating over a dozen firms, including firms of the Adani Group, Essar Group and Reliance ADAG Group, among others for alleged over valuation of Indonesian coal imports and power equipment imports between 2011 and 2015.

http://indianexpress.com/article/business/companies/over-invoicing-by-power-companies-pil-in-delhi-hc-seeks-sit-probe-against-firms-4842567/lite/

The NGOs, through senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, have alleged that some power firms are involved in “over-invoicing of about 400 per cent of power equipment and fuel in order to siphon off money to their promoter firms registered in tax havens and also in order to inflate electricity tariffs which are based on the cost of equipment and fuel”.
“This is a very serious matter involving tens of thousands of crore. The CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry against some Adani Group firms, which was closed during the tenure of Ranjit Sinha, who is now being investigated by the SIT. Over-invoicing by these firms leads to taking more loans from banks than is required, cheating of consumers as higher tariffs are passed on to the consumers and cheating of shareholders of these firms as money is being siphoned off abroad,” Bhushan said.
On Wednesday, Justice C Hari Shankar recused himself from hearing the case as he has appeared for some of the firms named in the petition in the past.

The counsel appearing for the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, said the government is opposing even the issuance of notice in the petition as it would “jeopardise the entire power sector.”
The high court will now hear the case on September 20.
According to the DRI, overvaluation of power equipment and coal has the effect of artificially raising the tariff values fixed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission or the respective state regulatory commissions.
The DRI has alleged that several traders are directly importing Indonesian coal but the invoices are “routed through one or more related /associated intermediary firms based abroad” after artificially inflating its value. To justify the inflated price, “manipulated test reports” of the quality of coal is submitted to PSUs and Customs. This coal is then supplied to public power generation firms at the “artificially inflated import price and the inflated price is remitted from India to the intermediary firms abroad which remit only the actual price to the suppliers of the coal and the balance is siphoned off elsewhere”.

Riaz Haq said...

New index says #India is more #corrupt than #Pakistan . Sponsored by Los Angeles-based research organisation Berggruen Institute, the governance index ranked performance on 3 key indices — Quality of #Democracy, Quality of #Government and Quality of #Life.

https://theprint.in/india/overachiever-in-democracy-india-trails-pakistan-in-corruption-on-governance-index/368568/

On the “existence and perception” of corruption in a country, China was considered the most corrupt with a score of 39 points and India came next at 28 points. Pakistan was considered the least corrupt with just 13 points.


India ranked poorly on business regulation, public health and civil justice, according to the recently released Berggruen Governance Index 2019.

The report looked at data over 14 years (2004-2018) from 38 countries and covered 95 per cent of the global GDP and 75 per cent of the global population.

India versus China versus Pakistan
Based on the sub-index Judicial Impartiality, which refers to “a citizen’s treatment in the course of judicial procedures”, India scored the most with 28 data points, Pakistan scored 14 and China 5.

With regard to Quality of Education, China took the lead at 80 points while India and Pakistan scored 30.

On the “existence and perception” of corruption in a country, China was considered the most corrupt with a score of 39 points and India came next at 28 points. Pakistan was considered the least corrupt with just 13 points.

On ‘politicised bureaucracy’, which is the influence of political connections and ideology in the “hiring and firing practices” of bureaucracy, India ranked highest of the three countries with 59 points, China came next with 23 and then Pakistan at 13.

With regards to Shadow Economy — the ability of the government to prevent economic activity from escaping its reach — China scored the highest (91 points), followed by India (57 points) and Pakistan (14 points).

Of the 38 countries, Sweden was the “overachiever” with the highest score in all three indices. UK achieved “more than expected in light of its GDP” overall, while the US performed “just above expectations” on Quality of Democracy, and just below in the remaining two indices.
----------------

If you believe that vibrant democracies guarantee good government or that robust economic output ensures a better quality of life for a nation’s citizens, think again.


China, which scores low on democracy, has undoubtedly been an economic success story, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and helping spur the global economy. But it faces a massive debt problem, and is perhaps approaching a ceiling and may need to allow more public participation in running government if it wants to guarantee a better quality of life for its people in the future.


In contrast, the U.S. hasn’t excelled at translating its high gross domestic product growth rate into increases in the quality of life, which has, in fact, decreased slightly over the past 14 years, the Institute said. This is particularly notable in health and education, where the problem isn’t quality, but affordability.

“Growing economic inequality and wealth disparity could be key factors, particularly after the 2007–2008 financial crisis,” according to the report. “Although the economy rebounded after the crisis, the gains were disproportionately concentrated in the top tier of the U.S. population, with 95% of growth going to the top 1% of the households.”

Even in established democracies, actual government performance can trump other factors in determining quality of life. Italy, for example, has a lively democracy, but the responsiveness of successive governments has been poor, and as a result living standards are stagnant at best.

“Italy ranks surprisingly high with respect to quality of democracy scores,” according to the report. “Yet the availability of feedback mechanisms and other democratic processes seems to have no additional impact on the quality of government.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-quality-of-government-and-life/

Riaz Haq said...

Perceptions of Government
Accountability in Pakistan

Most likely outcome if a high-ranking government officer is caught embezzling public funds.

https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/Thematic%20Infographics.pdf

Riaz Haq said...

Access money is dominant form of corruption in both China and U.S. - Axios

https://www.axios.com/corruption-america-china-rankings-bribes-4eb552b9-5053-4de6-a2b8-cb1c93e4ea48.html

Access money — funneling cash to government officials in return for favors — is the dominant form of corruption in both China and the U.S., according to groundbreaking research by University of Michigan political scientist Yuen Yuen Ang.

Why it matters: Until now, international corruption comparisons were largely confined to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, which views corruption as a third-world problem through Western eyes.

For her new book — "China's Gilded Age," published in July — Ang measured corruption in four categories:

Petty theft (shaking down people for small bribes) ... grand theft (shaking down businesses for large bribes) ... speed money (paying money to get necessary government approvals) ... and access money (paying money to be able to influence politicians).
In both China and the U.S., access money was the dominant mode of corruption.
China scores 7.6 out of a maximum 10 on the prevalence of access money; the U.S. scores 6.9 out of 10. By comparison, Singapore scores 3.7 and Ghana scores 5.8.
Go deeper: To see "access money" in action, check out this weekend's N.Y. Times investigation (subscription), which found hundreds of examples of businesses attempting to curry favor with President Trump — often with remarkable success — by spending money at his properties.

Riaz Haq said...

2022 CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX REVEALS NEGLECT OF ANTI-CORRUPTION EFFORTS IN ASIA PACIFIC
Nearly 90 per cent of countries have made no significant progress since 2017


https://www.transparency.org/en/press/2022-corruption-perceptions-index-neglect-anti-corruption-efforts-asia-pacific

ASIA PACIFIC HIGHLIGHTS

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

The Asia Pacific average holds at 45 for the fourth consecutive year, and over 70 per cent of countries rank below 50.

New Zealand (87), Singapore (83), Hong Kong (76) and Australia (75) lead the region.
Afghanistan (24), Cambodia (24), Myanmar (23) and North Korea (17) are the lowest in the region.
Singapore (83) and Mongolia (33) are at historic lows this year.
While many countries have stagnated, countries in Asia Pacific made up nearly half of the world’s significant improvers on the CPI since 2017.

The significant improvers are: South Korea (63), Vietnam (42) and the Maldives (40).
Three countries declined over this time: Malaysia (47), Mongolia (33) and Pakistan (27).
For each country’s individual score and changes over time, as well as analysis for each region, see the region’s 2022 CPI page.

CORRUPTION PERVASIVE IN ASIA PACIFIC

Across Asia Pacific, governments have claimed they would tackle corruption, but few have taken concrete action. Pervasive corruption and crackdowns on civic space leave the situation dire.

Malaysia (47) has been declining for years as it struggles with grand corruption in the wake of the monumental 1MDB and other scandals implicating multiple prime ministers and high-level officials. The current prime minister has promised to clean up but still appointed a deputy prime minister with serious corruption allegations as part of efforts to stabilise his unity government.
In India (40), considered the largest democracy in the world, the government continues to consolidate power and limit the public’s ability to demand accountability. They detain more and more human rights defenders and journalists under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
Massive protests erupted in Sri Lanka (36) as the government’s financial mismanagement resulted in an economic meltdown in the country. Noting the link between pervasive corruption among the country’s leadership and the crisis, Sri Lankans demanded anti-corruption reforms and refused to leave the streets despite brutal police crackdowns.
After years of decline, Australia (75) is showing positive signs this year. Most notably, the government elected last year fulfilled its promise to pass historic legislation for a new National Anti-Corruption Commission. Yet there is still more work that needs to be done, including more comprehensive whistleblower protection laws, and caps and real time disclosure on political donations. Greater transparency and longer cooling off periods to reduce the 'revolving doors' of lobbying must also be prioritised.
In parts of the Pacific, governments have interfered in elections, denying the public the opportunity to have their voices heard. Even with its history of electoral strife, Papua New Guinea’s (30) August election was called its worst ever amid numerous irregularities, stollen ballot boxes and even bouts of violence. In the Solomon Islands (42), frustration with reported collusion between politicians and foreign companies boiled over into violent civil unrest late last year. Now, the government has delayed elections scheduled for until 2024 raising further concerns over the abuse of executive power.
Transparency International calls on governments to prioritise anti-corruption commitments, reinforcing checks and balances, upholding rights to information and limiting private influence to finally rid the world of corruption – and the instability it brings.