Transparency International (TI) focused on post-war Iraq in a case study within its Global Corruption Report 2005, which was released at a press conference in London on Wednesday.
"Corruption thrives in a context of confusion and change," the study said, adding that ordinary Iraqis became cynical about the honesty of the factions jostling for power as soon as Saddam Hussein was removed from power in 2003.
"If urgent steps are not taken," the study concluded, "Iraq will not become the shining beacon of democracy envisioned by the Bush administration, it will become the biggest corruption scandal in history."
Up for grabs
Political groups took possession overnight of public buildings and moved into villas vacated by the ousted Saddam Hussein's closest aides.
"State property went up for grabs. If they could get away with this, how do they expect ordinary people to behave?" one Iraqi businessman told the authors of the study.
"There are plenty of reasons to believe that high levels of corruption have indeed taken hold in the new Iraq"
Transparancy International report |
It said that while many accusations of malpractice from Iraqis were unfounded, "there are plenty of reasons to believe that high levels of corruption have indeed taken hold in the new Iraq.
"At the Ghazil market in central Baghdad and the souk of old Basra, salesmen and consumers engage in a booming trade in stolen medicines and medical equipment supplied by corrupt public servants," it said.
Besides, there was a danger that the rapid privatisation to be enforced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Paris Club of creditor nations could lead to more problems, as the sell-off of state-owned enterprises in Russia had shown.
Local expertise
The report said that while the post-war period in Iraq had focused on planting the seeds of democracy and encouraging power sharing, "very little thought has been given to how the new Iraq can be more effective in managing oil revenues".
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The report said the US has been a poor anti-corruption 'role model' |