NEW DELHI: India is among the countries that suffer from "high corruption risk" in defence purchases, one of the most elaborate global assessments of corruption in the high spending sector has concluded.
According to the report, 'Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index 2013' by Transparency International UK, 36% of the countries assessed by the index was found to have high corruption risk. India and China are among those countries.
The band in which India figures exhibits "strong systems in some areas and very poor systems in others", the report said. Positives of most of these countries including India are payment systems and personnel receiving pay in a timely manner, absence of ghost soldiers etc.
The report said that most of the countries in the band did not disclose the level of expenditure dedicated to secret spending, and did not audit these secret budgets. In China, the concentration of power created corruption risk, the report said.
"It is comprehensive, with each country analysed across 77 detailed questions on all aspects of a defence ministry and armed force's integrity-building and anti-corruption systems. It covers 82 countries, from the major arms producing countries through to fragile nations. It provides detailed analyses for each country that describe the mechanisms they have in place to prevent corruption in this sector, and how they could be strengthened. This provides nations with a wealth of material on which to base improvement," said Mark Pyman, director, Defence and Security Programme at Transparency International UK.
The report said that only two countries, Australia and Germany, had high levels of transparency, and strong, institutionalized activity to address corruption risk. "This unexpectedly small number of countries shows that defence anti-corruption measures are still in their infancy. This holds true even among the many OECD countries that are among the 82 nations analysed, which generally have strong government institutions and rule of law," the report said.
About 30% of the countries had generally high or moderate transparency, with some activity to address corruption risks, but with shortcomings. The rest of the nations had poor results, with 57 of the 82 countries, or 69%, scoring in the bottom three bands — D, E and F. India figures in the D band.
The bottom three bands include 20 of the 30 largest arms importers in the world assessed, and 16 of the largest 30 arms exporters assessed. "This disappointing result shows that defence risk in most countries is poorly controlled, with correspondingly high vulnerability to corruption," the report said.
High corruption risk in defence purchases by India: Study
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High corruption risk in defence purchases by India: Study
