Corruption rises 14 percent in Pakistan: report

Pakistan marked a 42nd position in the list of world's corrupt nations as corruption in the country mounts 14 percent more than that of last year, said a report.

According to the report issued by the Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) in the southern coastal city of Karachi on Tuesday, corruption worth 223 billion rupees (about 2. 65 billion U.S. dollars) occurred in the country this year compared to 195 billion in 2009.

"During 2010, police and bureaucracy maintained their ranking as the two most corrupt public sector institutions, while land administration institutions ranked third in corrupt practices," the report said.

Corruption in the judiciary, education and local government sectors increased as compared to 2009, however, customs and taxation departments ranked lower.

"In terms of bribery, land administration was the most corrupt sector," said Syed Adil Gilani, Chairman of the anti-corruption civil organization TIP.

According to the survey, about 70 percent of Pakistanis believed that the current government is more corrupt than the previous one.

"Among the four provincial governments, eastern province Punjab government is the only one rated better than its predecessor, while the north western province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is rated the most corrupt of the four," Gilani said.

The report said that massive corruption was carried out while issuing tenders for development projects.

"Corruption is the root cause of all problems in the country and owing to the lack of governance in Pakistan, the credibility of the country has fallen internationally," Gilani added.

"The government of Pakistan needs to address corruption, as the judiciary did by announcing a judicial policy with a zero tolerance for corruption and the Pakistan Army did by removing its senior officers from civilian postings," he said.

Source: Xinhua