Tuesday, according to the latest ranking of Transparency International of the index of corruption perception around the world, Haiti won 2 places from 165th place (in 2012) to the 163rd in 2013 out of 177 countries studied.

Note that Haiti has progressed of 10 places since 2011, when our country was ranked in 175th position and that with this latest ranking, our country finally emerges from the group of five most corrupt countries.

Ms. Marilyn B. Allien, President of the Heritage Foundation for Haiti, the Haitian branch of Transparency International, is delighted with this slight improvement obtained b the team of Antoine Atouriste, the Director General of the Unit for Combating Corruption (ULCC), pointing out that the law on the prevention and punishment of corruption, tabled in Parliament since 2005 had been passed, it would have allowed the ULCC to broaden its scope and allowed Haiti to get a better score in that ranking.

Remember that this bill passed in the Senate in May 2013https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-8560-haiti-justice-senate-voted-the-first-anti-corruption-law-in-haiti.html

which has not yet been passed by the Lower House, recognizes 17 cases of corruption include: misappropriation, illicit enrichment, laundering of proceeds of crime, the diversion and embezzlement of public property, bribery, the ober billing, influence peddling, nepotism and secret funding of political parties, making punishable the guilty to prison terms ranging from 3-15 years.

Transparency International says that almost 70% of countries in the world have a serious problem of corruption in their public service and none of the 177 countries surveyed in 2013, gets a perfect score.

HL/ HaitiLibre