Corruption central: Countries in Mideast have little control over defense industries

Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — The level of corruption in Middle East defense procurement
is among the highest in the world, a report said.

Transparency International, a London-based group, said the high corruption included Israel, whose parliament has little oversight over defense contracts.

middle-east-map-109e92“Parliaments and legislatures in two-thirds of the 82 countries assessed have seriously insufficient controls that give rise to high or critical corruption risk in their Ministry of Defense and armed forces,” the report,
titled “Watchdogs?” said.

The report cited Israel and the Republic of Cyprus as being in the lower range of the high corruption level. Those deemed more corrupt were Jordan, Palestinian Authority, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The other five Gulf Cooperation Council states were deemed “very high” in the corruption index.

In the critical range were such Middle East states as Algeria, Egypt,
Libya, Syria and Yemen. The militaries of all of these countries, with the
exception of Syria, have been supported by NATO.

The report said many of the Middle East countries were becoming worse in
defense corruption. TI cited Iran, Jordan, PA, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the
UAE.

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