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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 1 February 2023
Global report highlights link between corruption, violence

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER threat that corruption and
Associated Press the absence of govern-
BERLIN (AP) — Most of the ment accountability pose
world continues to fail to for global peace and se-
fight corruption with 95 % of curity, the report said. It
countries having made little added that kleptocrats in
to no progress since 2017, a Russia, which is at 28 points,
closely watched study by have amassed great for-
an anti-graft organization tunes by pledging loyalty
found Tuesday. to President Vladimir Putin
Transparency Interna- in exchange for profitable
tional’s 2022 Corruption government contracts and
Perceptions Index, which protection of their eco-
measures the perception nomic interests.
of public sector corruption “The absence of any
according to experts and checks on Putin’s power
businesspeople, also found allowed him to pursue his
that governments ham- geopolitical ambitions with
pered by corruption lack impunity,” the report con-
the capacity to protect cluded. “This attack desta-
the people, while public bilized the European conti-
discontent is more likely to nent, threatening democ-
turn into violence. racy, and has killed tens of
“Corruption has made our Police block a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Yekaterinburg, thousands.”
world a more dangerous Russia, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. Associated Press Before the invasion,
place. As governments Ukraine, which scored 33
have collectively failed to corrupt” 0 to a “very clean” The United Kingdom amidst concerns over weak points, had a low score but

make progress against it, 100. Denmark is seen as the dropped five points to 73 integrity and lobbying reg- was undertaking impor-
they fuel the current rise in least corrupt this year with its lowest ever score. The re- ulations even though their tant reforms and steadily
violence and conflict – and 90 points, and Finland and port said a number of scan- scores remain high in com- improving. Even after the
endanger people every- New Zealand both follow dals from public spending parison to the rest of the outbreak of the war, the
where,” said Delia Ferreira closely at 87. Strong demo- to lobbying, as well as rev- world. country continued to pri-
Rubio, the chairperson of cratic institutions and re- elations of ministerial mis- In eastern Europe corrup- oritize anti-corruption re-
Transparency International. gard for human rights also conduct, have highlighted tion is seen as remaining forms. However, wars dis-
“The only way out is for make these countries some woeful inadequacies in the rampant as many countries rupt normal processes and
states to do the hard work, of the most peaceful in the country’s political integrity reached historic lows. exacerbate risks, the report
rooting out corruption at world, the report said. systems. Public trust in poli- Russia in particular was pointed out, allowing cor-
all levels to ensure govern- However, the report also tics is also worryingly low, it highlighted as a glaring ex- rupt actors to pocket funds
ments work for all people, shows that while western said. ample of corruption’s im- meant for recovery.
not just an elite few,” she Europe remains the top- Countries like Switzerland, pact on peace and stabili- Earlier this month investiga-
added. scoring region, some of its at 82, and the Netherlands, ty. The country’s invasion of tions exposed alleged war
The report ranks countries countries are showing wor- which scored 80 points, are Ukraine almost a year ago profiteering by several se-
on a scale from a “highly rying signs of decline. showing signs of decline was a stark reminder of the nior officials. q

EU lawmakers move to lift immunity of scandal suspects

BRUSSELS (AP) — An influ- ment voted unanimously lawmakers being sought be questioned by Belgian Niccolo Figa-Talamanca.
ential committee at the on Tuesday to lift the pro- by Belgian authorities on prosecutors. Qatar and Morocco deny
European Union’s parlia- tective immunity of two suspected links to a major Hundreds of thousands of any involvement.
corruption scandal. euros (dollars) were seized The request by prosecu-
The European Parliament’s in raids across Brussels in tors for parliament to lift
legal affairs committee de- December. Four people the immunity of Tarabella
cided by 23 votes to zero, were charged with cor- and Cozzolino suggests
with no abstentions, to lift ruption, money launder- that they too could be
the parliamentary immu- ing and membership in a charged. Both men deny
nity of Belgian lawmaker criminal organization for wrongdoing and have said
Marc Tarabella and Italian allegedly accepting bribes they are willing to talk to
Andrea Cozzolino, its chair- from Qatari and Moroccan investigators. A lawyer for
man, Adrian Vazquez Laz- officials to influence parlia- Panzeri’s wife and daugh-
ara, announced on Twitter. mentary proceedings. ter, who were also being
The move paves the way They are S&D lawmaker Eva sought over suspected
for the full house to vote Kaili, who was an assem- links to what’s one of the
on whether to remove their bly vice president until the EU’s biggest-ever scandals,
protections on Thursday so charges came to light; her said Monday that they had
that the two men, who are partner and parliamentary been freed from house ar-
Silvia Panzeri, the daughter of former MEP Antonio Panzeri, members of the center-left assistant Francesco Giorgi; rest after Belgian authorities
leaves the Brescia law court on a penitentiary police car, in Socialists and Democrats former S&D lawmaker Pier abandoned their attempt
Brescia, northern Italy, Dec. 20, 2022. (S&D) political group hard- Antonio Panzeri, and the to have the two transferred
Associated Press
est hit by the scandal, can head of a charity group, for questioning.q