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The Institute for Ethics and Economic
Policy (IEEP) |
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Lebanon
tops region for corruption. Rampant
corruption in
Al-Madina
mess highlights need to fight CORRUPTION. Amid at the recent
scandal of Bank Al-Madina, many Lebanese are wondering wonder why such fraud
cases are allowed to take place in the corporate and political soil.
According to the executive director of Lebanese Transparency Association
Charles Adwan, “Corruption is endemic in
NGOs JOIN FORCES TO RID ARAB WORLD OF GRAFT. To spread its anti-corruption web to a
larger segment of society, Transparency International chapters in the Arab
world will engage nongovernmental organizations, academics and public servants
in adapting an anti-corruption guidebook for the region. Transparency
International (TI) is a Berlin-based international NGO intended to fight
corruption by raising awareness of its negative impacts, lobbying, monitoring
local practices and forming coalitions with other NGOs. “The importance of the project lies not
only in producing the adapted source book, but in the fact that the project
would engage (the anti-corruption movement) in mobilizing civil society in
the Arab world toward fighting corruption,” said Charles Adwan. He also added
that academics, NGOs, politicians and public servants would be involved in
workshops for implementing the project.
(The Daily Star
(Lebanon), August 3, 2002, summary by Sherldine Tomlinson). LEBANESE TRANSPARENCY ASSOCIATION PUBLISHES NEW CODE OF ETHICS La Fassad, a highly lauded Lebanese Transparency Association has recently published a new code of ethics and urged other NGOs to do the same. Speaking at a workshop, the vice- president of La Fassad, lawyer Mohammed Matar has said that it was necessary for civil organisations to reinforce transparency and accountability. The Lebanon director of the US Agency for International Development, Jon Breslar commended La Fassad in becoming the country’s premier institute working towards eliminating corruption and lauded its contribution towards good governance. He also said that the workshop was very important as it has helped cement the relationship between La Fassad and Transparency International, and it has also reinforced the fact that accountability and integrity are integral parts of public relationships. (Daily Star, February 1, 2002, summary by Aruna Balakrishnan).
TELEGLOBE CORRUPTION TRIAL POSTPONED Abdel-Monem Youssef, former Director General of Operations and Maintenance at the Ministry of Telecommunications is being investigated by Mazen Tajeddine, magistrate, for contracting Teleglobe Canada, the higgest bidder to provide international lines. Rafik Ghanem, prosecutor, and Mounif Hamdan, defense, will review documents against Youssef, who is also charged with embezzlement, squandering public funds, and other cases. (The Daily Star Online, Apr 27, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
UNITED NATIONS DISAVOWS REPORT ON CORRUPTION. On Thursday,
the UN said that the report on corruption in Lebanon
that was released this week did not reflect its official position. The
report, prepared by the private company Information
International, found Lebanon lost $1.5 billion a year through inefficiency
and corruption. The UN said that views from the report, "do not
reflect
the official position of the Secretariat of the United Nations nor
that
of the Center for International Crime Prevention". (Source: Daily Star
-
Lebanon, January 23 and 27, 2001, summary by Pavlidis George). Hala
Dimechkie, Director of Information and Communications of Lebanese Embassy in
Washington, DC, informs us that the name of the main anti-corruption
prosecutor in Lebanon is Adnan Addoum as of Nov. 7, 2000. GRAFT IS
MOST COMMON AT EDUCATION MINISTRY A Central Inspection Department report
released on August 31 said the Ministry of Education and Youth employs the
largest number of corrupt officials. According to the report, in the first
six months of this year, 363 state employees were reprimanded or charged with
bad behavior. Some 222 of them worked at the Education Ministry, it said. The
guilty employees were either reprimanded, referred to a disciplinary board,
or prosecuted before criminal courts. The report added that the highest
percentages of those reprimanded were mid-ranking officials. Wage workers and
contract workers had among the lowest incidents of misbehavior on the job.
(The Daily Star, September 1, 2000 http://www.dailystar.com.lb ). Lawyer
moves to quash corruption case against Barsoumian (The Daily Star, August 22, 2000 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/22_08_00/art4.htm ) Old Link for reference only. Sunk
in Crisis, People Deride Vote, BEIRUT,-- Ten years after Syria dominated in
Lebanon´s civil war, there will be parliamentary elections. However, economic
crisis causes public cynicism. People denounce vote rigging and Syrian
domination. (By JOHN KIFNER Aug. 26, NY Times).
The Index of Economic Freedom (by Driscoll-Holmes-Kirkpatrick) for 2001 places Lebanon in the “Mostly Free” category with a rank of 61 (Ranks range from 1 for Hong Kong to 155 for North Korea, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 1, 2000). H. D. Vinod’s trimmed correlation analysis indicates that countries free from economic regulation are less corrupt. After allowing for some exceptions by 20% trimming, the correlation is near 0.9. |
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Design:
Theo den Brinker |
Copyright:
Hrishikesh D. Vinod 2000 |
Last
Updated: |
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