(The following is a translation of a BBC Persian program. A link to the Farsi-language original can be found below.)
BBC
“Page 2” – “Safeye 2”
Dec 09 10
Interview with Mehrdad Emadi, EU Economic Advisor
and Rasool Nafisi, Professor of Socialogy & Mid-East Expert
Majid Khayamdar (narrator)
Worldwide Corruption in public financial management is on the rise. The most recent research survey shows that over 60% of the people across the globe believe that corruption in the last 3 years has increased. One in every four people admits to having paid a bribe at least once within the last year. Based on the recently published corruption index by Transparency International (TI), out of 178 countries on the list; Iran ranks 146, as opposed to 168 in prior years’ report.
For years, ‘Fighting corruption’ has been on the agenda of all three of the executive, judicial and legislative branches of the government in Iran. And all three admit that the problem is spread too wide and too deep, and the task at hand is extremely difficult.
Video inset:
~ Ahmadinejad: “The rampant corruption is supported by high level, influential individuals.”
Narrator: Perhaps, no government official has been as outspoken as Mr. Ahmadinejad about corruption. The subject soared to greater heights at the onset of the presidential elections last year. Alas, in the whirlwind of the same election process accusations of corruption erupted, aiming at a score of individuals and entities, including Mr. Ahmadinejad himself and his supporters.
Video –
~ Karoubi: “One issue was that $700 million of government funds were about to be ‘paid’ to a private party, but the ‘leader’ intercepted the plan.”
~ Ahmadinejad: “What do you think Mr. Hashemi’s sons are up to in this country?”
~ Mousavi: “There was also an incident about an official within the administration, involved in an illegal contract deal worth tens of millions of dollars.”
~ Ahmadinejd: “There was only ONE incident, where some funds were paid to Mr. Karbasi’s wife.”
Narrator: Even after the elections, accusations of financial corruption have repeatedly been brought up by both the legislators and the opposition groups, who speak of the misappropriation of Billions. At any rate, all political groups as well as ordinary citizens believe that financial and managerial corruption in the country is a serious issue. But has the “Fight against corruption” made serious progress?
Host: To explore the subject further, we have with us Mr. Rasoul Nafisi, the sociologist from Washington and Mr. Mehrdad Emadi, economic expert from London.
Mr. Emadi, Iran has ranked #146 on the TI index. What exactly does that mean?
Mehrdad Emadi: It means that among the 178 countries on the list, the country ranking #1 is the “cleanest”, in terms of bribery or administrative corruption. Iran holds the 146th position, which is rather low for a country like Iran.
Host: The index scores begin from 10, as the highest score for cleanest economy. Iran is at 2.2. How do they measure these indicators and how do they arrive at these numbers?
Mehrdad Emadi: They are primarily based on the degree of susceptibility of a government for accepting and/or demanding bribes, as well as considerations of a government’s transparency in contracts and government projects. Also, the extent of family connections between top level officials. Overall, there are 13 separate reports to compile, based on which, the indicators are determined. I hasten to point out that over the years many countries have learned to bypass some of the 13 reports-- countries such as Iran, Oman, Qatar, to name a few. And then there are countries such as Singapore, Japan, even India, who have actually tried to keep up with the number of reports, as they actually do have a desire to improve and establish more transparency in their societies’ political and economic arena.
Host: Mr. Nafisi, What are some examples of sociological reasons or breeding grounds for corruption, within a given society? Briefly please!
Rasoul Nafisi: Well, basically, organized corruption is controlled by one internal and three external elements. The internal element depends on the system’s degree of loyalty to laws and regulations. But the 3 external factors consist of 1) Degree of the country’s susceptibility for corruption. 2) Extent of power of the laws and the organizations in charge of enforcing them. 3) The ability of the whistleblowers & how much protection they might receive from the government.
In the case of Iran, all 4 of these areas have inherent weaknesses. Perhaps this is a general law of the land that corrupts most oil rich countries. For instance, in Nigeria, one of the 3 elements always seems to get lost. And we see what a rampant corruption rules the Arabic countries. This creates a culture of corruption where people don’t have a choice but to always look to the government for loans and concessions, as we see in Iran.
However Iran in particular, with all the changes that have occurred such as phasing out the Department of Budget and Planning, the blow to the judicial system (which until recently was running exceptionally smoothly since Davar’s time where Iran’s laws were recognized by Europeans and Americans), the wounded judiciary and the loss of the relative independence that Iran enjoyed, a system has been born that revolves around individual interests, not the societal interests, which has served as a setback for the nation’s judicial system and destroyed all rights of supervision on policies. Therefore, we will certainly see an even further increase of corruption in the coming year.
Host: Mr. Emadi, alongside the corruption indices issued by TI and other international organizations, are there also any guidelines or suggestions for improvement that these countries can use?
Mehrdad Emadi: Yes, because Transparency International obtains much of its information from other organizations. For instance, institutions such as OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) suggest the following: Transparency in all international contracts. And once a bid has been granted to the winner, all the conditions and provisions of the bid should be publicized, for the educational benefit of those who did not win. Also, all personal relations between the private and the public sector should be revealed. For example, in Europe if you are a Minister of something, there are forms you must fill out, disclosing whether or not any of your relatives are involved in certain contracts involving your Ministry.
In the last 2 years, Iran has not even permitted such information to be collected. And along the lines of what Mr. Nafisi pointed out, I add that we see a fertile ground for corruption and the acceptance and offering of bribes. The relative improvement in Iran’s position since last year seems contradictory to some other information provided by Iran’s parliament, such as the purported increase in drug smuggling, which is often a solid indicator of corruption in a country, as the system of establishing border security and the system of preventing drug smuggling are means and methods of preventing illegal economy. Therefore, the claim that Iran’s score of 7 (in 2005) has dropped down to 3 now, is akin to a student who is asked for his GPA and removes all the lower grades to show you a better looking GPA.
Host: Mr. Nafisi, over the past 3 decades, we have heard the call for fighting corruption many times, which was the main slogan of the Islamic Republic. Mr. Ahmadinejad perhaps won the presidency (in his first term) based on this same promise, which he has continued to emphasize for 6 years now. Why is it that despite all the claims made by the government, there has been practically no achievement in even a reduction of corruption?
Rasoul Nafisi: Well, the very make up of the Islamic Republic is conducive to corruption. If you look at every religion based regime, which are not too many by the way, we find a case in Indonesia from 1999 to 2001 when Abdolrahman Wahid became president by free elections. He was the leader of a large group, a religious man, a good man actually, but he created so much corruption that eventually led to his ouster in mid-term, by the Indonesian Parliament.
This is a corruption inherent in religious networks, primarily because the foundation of religious networks is formed on personal and intimate and family connections. This is exactly what we have in Iran on a national level and the reason why all the facts are not disclosed to Transparency International. Iran has operated on a system of close-knit family members, a maze of inner circles, friendships and intimate relations. Such systems have no capacity for corruption control. Choosing to fight corruption, would necessitate the creation of a governmental organization that must be supervised by yet another organization, and that is just not feasible in such systems.
Host: So, Mr. Nafisi, you don’t see any positive points in the events that have transpired?
Rasoul Nafisi: Well, in my view, not only no progress has been made in any area, but also there’s been an increase in drug abuse, drug smuggling, prostitution, administrative corruption, citizens’ increased dependence on the government, and lesser activity in the private sector. As I mentioned earlier, the loss of independence of the government, the weakened judiciary, the dissolution of the Dept of Budget and Planning, and a total lack of a supervisory or oversight system, has formed a system of organized chaos in the country that undoubtedly results in more corruption and confusion. So, to answer your question, No, I do not see a single positive point in the changes, although I would love to find one.
Host: Mr. Emadi, the index released by TI this Thursday, as well as an independent survey conducted by BBC, both together emphasize on the fact that corruption is increasing on a global level. 60% of those surveyed have said that within the last year alone, they’ve had to pay a bribe somewhere. Why? What is happening?
Mehrdad Emadi: Something rather interesting is happening, directly connected to your question. And that is that on a global level, we’re witnessing an economic unity amongst corrupt countries. These countries have increased their mutual trade. For example, Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Italy! Italy ranked 51 in 2005 but 71 now! Among the European Union countries, Italy is Iran’s most prominent trade partner. See, for every demander of a bribe, there must also be a payer of a bribe, in order for a transaction to take place outside the parameters of law. Dealing with countries that encourage and operate by the rules of corruption, can then segue into a large scale global bribery mechanism – making bribery an epidemic.
The index shows us that the status of the top cleanest 35 countries has not changed. They are the same as they were in prior years, while at the same time, as the degree of corruption has increased in certain countries, so has the volume of their trade. This phenomenon can not be merely coincidental. It is rather a pre-designed and collaborative plan by both sides.
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Original:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/tv/2008/12/000001_ptv_page2.shtml
-from min 18
(Pictured: Iran's VP, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, accused of corruption.)
