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| The secretariat of Transparency International, Berlin [PHOTO: CC BY-SA 3.0] |
By RFE/RL
Berlin: Transparency International says 70 percent of governments
fail to protect against graft in the defense sector, leaving the door wide open
to waste and security threats.
The corruption
watchdog says those with poor controls include two-thirds of the largest arms
importers and half of the biggest arms exporters in the world.
It estimates the
global cost of corruption to be at least $20 billion per year.
These conclusions are
contained in Transparency International's first ever index measuring what
governments do to prevent and counter defense-related corruption.
The report, which was released on January 29, evaluates
corruption risks in the defense sector in 82 countries.
Countries with a
"very high risk" of corruption in defense include Afghanistan, Iran,
Iraq, and Uzbekistan.
Germany and
Australia are the only countries that have strong anticorruption mechanisms
according to the index.
Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.