Transparency International (TI)’s Global Corruption Report 2005 has been released. It shows how corruption in the construction sector undermines economic development, and threatens to hamstring post-conflict reconstruction. The press release issued on the 16th of March 2005 in London states that the report finds a lack of transparency in large-scale projects to have a devastating impact on economic development. The chairman of TI Peter Eigen is reported to have said that “Corrupt contracting processes leave developing countries saddled with sub-standard infrastructure and excessive debt.” The press release further states the following: ''Corruption raises the cost and lowers the quality of infrastructure. But that the cost of corruption is also felt in lost of lives. The damage caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes is magnified in places where inspectors have been bribed to ignore building and planning regulations. Corruption steers money away from health and education programmes towards large capital-intensive infrastructure projects. Corruption can also have disastrous environmental consequences.''
The Global Corruption Report 2005 also includes detailed assessments of the state of corruption in 40 countries. These country reports are written by Transparency International's national chapters and other experts. The book contains the findings of the latest research into corruption and ways to combat it, including studies on the links between corruption and issues such as pollution, gender and foreign investment. The document, `highlights of the report' briefly presents the nature and scale of the problem, the role of international finance, the costs of corruption, corruption and post-conflict reconstruction and corruption around the world.
In Sri Lanka, the report points out that, a multitude of irregularities at the April 2004 ballot, including the abuse of state resources – particularly state media – for campaign purposes were uncovered. Furthermore it is also highlighted that the judiciary had come under scrutiny in Sri Lanka, where a survey of acting and retired judges carried out by the Marga Institute gave substance to the public perception that corruption is widespread in the judiciary. Of 50 judges questioned, 41 reported 226 incidents of bribery within the judiciary. The detailed report on Sri Lanka can be found on pages 41 -- 43 of the country reports. Sri Lanka's corruption perception index score for 2004 is 3.5 (67th out of 146 countries).
Download the full report
Download the full report
