17 September 2010
BEIRUT: British Ambassador to Lebanon Francis Guy on Wednesday spoke out about the challenges and dangers of widespread corruption which continues to plague Lebanon.
In comments published on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website, she voiced concern over “the costs for future generations because of a backhander that breaks the rules” and described the practice of underpaid civil servants supplementing their salaries as “a classic third-world dilemma.”
Quoting members of the British-Lebanese Business Group, who met earlier this week, as saying their work was hampered by “Lebanese red tape and requests for backhanders,” she noted frequent complaints over residency and work permits taking too long to renew without “oil[ing] the wheels a little bit.”
Some diplomatic and business interests even placed corruption as their leading source of grievance in Lebanon, she said.
But one organization was helping to change the status quo and was inspiring “hope.”
The Lebanese Transparency Organization (LTO) “focuses on reform and [has] produced some useful booklets for small businesses … [they] have presented draft laws to Parliament … and joined with others to form the Lebanese Anti Bribery Network,” she said.
Positive developments abroad could also help to better the situation. The “British Bribery Act 2010,” expected to come into force early next year, has been designed to introduce a seriously strengthened framework for preventing and punishing bribery.
“This could represent part of the solution,” said Badri al-Meouchi, LTO executive director. “It is very hard for just one person to refuse a bribe on his own, but if you have a group, and all agree to act together, keep others informed about corruption or contact the embassy, then you have a much stronger basis for action.”
“What matters to us is not the speed with which reform takes place, but that we maintain a sense of momentum and direction for change.”
In 2009 Transparency International’s corruption perception index placed Lebanon 130th out of 180 countries, actually down from 2006 when the country was ranked 99.
Copyright The Daily Star 2010.
