LETTER ABOUT CORRUPTION TO BAGRAT YESAYAN
Support A1+!Transparency International Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Miklos Marschall sent a letter to Advisor to the President of Armenia, Member of Anti-Corruption Council and Head of Anti-Corruption Monitoring Commission . Bagrat Yesayan.
Taking into account the fact that Bagrat Yesayan doubted the figures published by the organization, Mr. Marschall presented the nuances of the index, which is seriously treated throughout the globe
The letter says, in part, “I am responding to your public statements made last week (see www.armenialiberty.org., Wednesday 2, November 2005) about our recent Corruption Perception Index in which Armenia did not score well: a score of 2.9 in a scale from 1 to 10 and a rank of 88 out of 155 countries are indeed reasons for serious concern. What is even more problematic is that the situation does not seem to be improving. (The 2004 score was 3.1)
You are right when you say corruption is a complex phenomenon and difficult to measure. TI has always been absolutely open about the fact that the corruption index is a perception index: it reflects the opinions of business people, analysts and other experts who have first-hand experience with Armenia. While opinions may from time to time differ from reality, in the long run, the perception of knowledgeable experts who “do business” in Armenia comes very close to reality.
The very aim of our index is not to embarrass governments; our aim with the index is to trigger reforms that can lead to higher standards of governance and public life. Reformers in many governments in the world always greeted our index as a powerful tool to raise awareness about corruption and its devastating impacts. By doing so we promote necessary reforms.”
Finishing the letter Mr. Marschall noted that the TI Secretariat in Berlin and TI Armenia remain fully committed to discuss these issues with Bagrat Yesayan and with the Armenian government.
