Myanmar ranks 156th in transparency index

According to Transparency International, which released the index earlier this month, both countries scored 21. 

Among Asia Pacific nations, Myanmar is the third most corrupt nation. 

The 2014 ranking showed a slight improvement from a year earlier, when the country ranked 157th out of 177 countries. In 2012, when 174 countries were included, Myanmar was ranked the 172nd, with the 15 score.

President Thein Sein vowed to fight the corruption plaguing government ministries at the ceremony in which he took an oath of allegiance on March 31, 2011.

The index ranks countries based on a 100-point "corruption perception" scale, where zero equals a "highly corrupt" perception and 100 means the country is perceived to be very clean. All the 10 countries in the box scored lower than 30. More than two thirds of the 175 countries in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index score below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean). Denmark comes out on top in 2014 with a score of 92 while North Korea and Somalia share last place, scoring just eight.

Corruption is considered rampant in Myanmar. 

Recently, the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business conducted a transparency survey on private companies. Of all 60 companies enlisting for the transparency index, only five – led by Kanbawza (KBZ) Bank - earned enough points to pass the test. Even so, KBZ scored only 6.63 out of 10. 

 

“The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that economic growth is undermined and efforts to stop corruption fade when leaders and high level officials abuse power to appropriate public funds for personal gain,” Jose Ugaz, the chair of Transparency International, said in a statement.

“Corrupt officials smuggle ill-gotten assets into safe havens through offshore companies with absolute impunity,” Ugaz added. “Countries at the bottom need to adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favour of their people. Countries at the top of the index should make sure they don’t export corrupt practices to underdeveloped countries.”

The scores of several countries rose or fell by four points or more. The biggest falls were in Turkey (-5), Angola, China, Malawi and Rwanda (all -4). The biggest improvers were Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (+5), Afghanistan, Jordan, Mali and Swaziland (+4).

The Corruption Perceptions Index is based on expert opinions of public sector corruption. Countries’ scores can be helped by open government where the public can hold leaders to account, while a poor score is a sign of prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs.

Transparency International also called on countries at the top of the index where public sector corruption is limited to stop encouraging it elsewhere by doing more to prevent money laundering and to stop secret companies from masking corruption.

While top performer Denmark has strong rule of law, support for civil society and clear rules governing the behaviour of those in public positions, it also set an example this November, announcing plans to create a public register including beneficial ownership information for all companies incorporated in Denmark. This measure, similar to those announced by Ukraine and the UK, will make it harder for the corrupt to hide behind companies registered in another person’s name.

The anti-corruption group is currently running a campaign to Unmask the Corrupt, urging European Union, United States and G20 countries to follow Denmark’s lead and create public registers that would make clear who really controls, or is the beneficial owner, of every company.

“None of us would fly on planes that do not register passengers, yet we allow secret companies to conceal illegal activity. Public registers that show who really owns a company would make it harder for the corrupt to take off with the spoils of their abuse of power,” said Transparency International Managing Director Cobus de Swardt.