Transparency finds Pakistan under Shehbaz-Imran rule more corrupt than before

ISLAMABAD: Transparency International (TI) on Tuesday issued its 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report on global corruption and found Pakistan under Shehbaz-Imran’s shared rule as more corrupt than before.

Pakistan is declared among those 10 countries which significantly declined on their CPI score.

The TI report, issued from Berlin, is a charge sheet against both the present Shehbaz Sharif-led PDM government and the last Imran Khan government, as Pakistan’s CPI score dropped to the lowest since 2012. The 2022 CPI score of Pakistan is 27 as against 28 in 2021. Pakistan’s rank, however, remained at 140 out of the total 180 countries assessed by the TI in its 2022 report.

Surveys of different international bodies, which provide data to the TI for its report, show that the data evaluated in case of Pakistan covers both the governments of the PDM and PTI.

Asia’s Pacific report, which is part of the CPI 2022, however, talked about Imran Khan’s government. It said: “Pakistan too has continued its statistically significant downward trend, this year hitting its lowest score since 2012 at just 27 points amidst ongoing political turmoil. Prime Minister Imran Khan came to power promising to tackle rampant corruption and promote social and economic reforms, but little has been accomplished on any of these fronts since he took the reins in 2018.”

The report added, “After he (Imran Khan) was ousted in a no confidence vote this April (2022), the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified him from running for office for another five years and filed a plea in session court for criminal proceedings over allegations he failed to declare gifts and profits he made from selling them during his tenure. Khan has begun a separate court case against the ECP, challenging the ECP’s jurisdiction over candidate qualification.

“While awaiting the verdicts from these two cases, it’s most important that the new government does not allow such political scandals to derail comprehensive anti-corruption efforts. It’s time for concrete action with a holistic and effective anti-corruption plan that addresses illicit financial flows and introduces safeguards for civil space.”

On this occasion Justice (retd) Zia Perwez, Chairman Transparency International Pakistan, in a press release issued here said: “It is encouraging to notice that Pakistan’s score on Rule of Law Index 2022, which is one of the seven sources used to calculate Pakistan score on CPI 2022, has improved by 1 point. At the same time, Pakistan’s score on Varieties of Democracy 2022 has declined by 1 point. Overall, in CPI 2022, Pakistan’s score has declined to 27 out of 100 from 28 out of 100 in CPI 2021. Pakistan’s rank in CPI 2022 has remained the same as in CPI 2021 at 140 out of 180 countries. Denmark (90) tops the index this year, with Finland and New Zealand following closely, both at 87. Strong democratic institutions and regard for human rights also make these countries some of the most peaceful in the world according to the Global Peace Index.

South Sudan (13), Syria (13) and Somalia (12), all of which are embroiled in protracted conflict, remain at the bottom of CPI.

According to the TI, 26 countries – among them Qatar (58), Guatemala (24) and the United Kingdom (73) – are all at historic lows this year. Since 2017, ten countries significantly declined on their CPI scores including Luxembourg (77), Canada (74), the United Kingdom (73), Austria (71), Malaysia (47), Mongolia (33), Pakistan (27), Honduras (23), Nicaragua (19) and Haiti (17).