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Pakistan jumps up the corruption index
Thursday, October 21, 2010 10:43:34 PM,
Awais Saleem,
IANS
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Islamabad:
Pakistan has climbed up the corruption index from 42nd position in
2009 to 34th this year, as per the new ranking of corrupt
countries released by Transparency International here Tuesday.
The Pakistan chapter of Transparency International (TIP) has
identified corruption cases worth Rs.300 billion in different
federal government departments last year alone.
TIP chairman Adil Gilani lamented that the government did not show
any interest in probing these cases of corruption, according to
The News.
He, however, said it was only the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the
Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly and the Public
Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) which took notice of some
of these corruption cases.
Pakistan was ranked 47th in 2008 and went on to become 42nd in
2009.
"TIP has already referred a number of corruption cases to the
National Accountability Bureau but it did not proceed even in one
single case," Gilani said.
Among the mega corruption cases, the Rental Power Projects of the
government, presently under the scrutiny of the Pakistan Supreme
Court, topped the list, he said.
"The alleged unauthorized award of rental power projects is
expected to cause a loss of $2 billion."
Pakistan Steel, Railways, Oil and Gas Development Corporation,
National Highways Authority and National Insurance are some of the
other major organisations being operated by the Zardari-led
federal government that have been mentioned in the report on
charges of rampant corruption.
Pakistan Peoples Party, holding the reigns of the government in
the centre, has rejected the report.
Law Minister Babar Awan said: "Such reports are being issued at
the behest of vested interests and there is no check and balance
on the validity of their figures."
The report does not look into corruption in provincial
departments. Most of the cases are already under the scanner in
the apex court of Pakistan and pressure is building on the
government for making these deals without taking cognisance of
relevant rules or appointments in key positions in violation of
merit.
Former federal minister Shaikh Rasheed said that "corrupt elements
have the audacity to say that they are above the law and nobody
can get hold of them".
He charged that "it seems impossible to uproot the menace of
corruption if the rulers are themselves patronizing it".
(Awais Saleem
can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)
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