ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan chapter of Transparency International (TI) has no role in compiling the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2010, which has indicated that corruption in the country has increased, as the report has been compiled on the basis of surveys carried out by respected independent international sources.
TI Pakistan chairman Syed Adil Gilani told Pakistan Today that the report was compiled on the basis of international organisations which directly or indirectly transacted with Pakistan on financial matters. “We have no role in this report,” he said.
He said the sources which TI, Berlin, used for the report were surveys and reports of Africa Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Bertelsmann Foundation, Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House, Global Insights(formerly World Markets Research Centre), Institute for Management Development, Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, Hong Kong, World Economic Forum and the World Bank.
TI had come under severe criticism by the government officials, particularly those from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), as the country was shown to have climbed 8 notches, suggesting corruption had increased under the present regime.
A source told Pakistan Today that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been asked by the government to investigate into the role of TI Pakistan, its sources of income, its political affiliations in the country and the background of its chairman.
Following the FIA probe and threatening statements of PPP ministers and leaders, the TI issued a clarification a few days back that its Pakistan chapter had nothing to do with the CPI.
“TI would like to clarify that this international index is a statistical aggregation compiled by the TI Secretariat in Berlin from surveys carried out by respected independent international sources. The team in Berlin in charge of the statistical compilation has nothing to do with the scoring which is provided by the sources. The TI reaffirmed that no member of its national chapters, including TI Pakistan, plays any role or has any influence on this work, nor do any data or information generated by TI Pakistan contribute to the CPI,” the TI said.
The role of the Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) will invite even harsher criticism as it has already entered into an agreement with USAID to set-up an Anti-Fraud Hotline to monitor funds coming to Pakistan under the Kerry-Lugar and other US aid projects.
Earlier, TI Pakistan was scathingly criticised by the Awami National Party (ANP) when it released the National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS) 2010 in June, claiming that the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the most corrupt province in Pakistan.
NCPS 2010 was compiled on the basis of a survey entrusted to the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) and three Universities of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, with the objective to enhance the credibility of the NCPS and also to develop knowledge of university students on public survey mechanism.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Adil Gilani said TI Pakistan had got NCPS 2010 conducted by a third party – IBA – to keep it credible and impartial. “TIP does not conduct survey itself so that it should not be labelled biased and partial,” he added.
