A sobering investigation
The Foro Social de la Deuda Extranjera de Honduras (Fosdeh) published a report on corruption in the country on 9 December. The Fosdeh reckons, based on allegations of corruption, that the equivalent of 19% of the country's US$1.8bn budget was mislaid. The Fosdeh pointed out that if the government had been able to stop this level corruption the country would not have a fiscal deficit but a fiscal surplus.
The Fosdeh calculates that the government was cheated of revenues worth 6.4bn lempiras (US$351m or 19% of the budget) because of corruption. The director of the Fosdeh, Mauricio Díaz Burdett, argued that the size of the corruption means that the matter is not a marginal issue for the economy: if the government can reduce corruption, poverty levels will also be reduced. He came close to arguing that the money was not really the issue: he noted that the government eventually managed to recover half of the amount of money it lost through corruption. The problem is that no-one is punished for corruption: only two people have been jailed for the offence this year.
The bulk of the corruption involves evading import and export duties, especially on valuable tropical hardwoods. Other areas where corruption flourishes are in the electricity industry, selling fuel, and in privatisations, especially over mobile-telephone licences and airport concessions.
Marlin Oscar Avila, an expert in combating corruption and promoting more-responsible government, blames the government and the media for not doing more to help. He said politicians had to do more to make corruption unacceptable. Soraya Morales, the government's special investigator for corruption, said that the Fosdeh figures were alarming and backed calls for a national drive against corruption.
PANAMA: The authorities issued an arrest warrant for Bolivar Pariente, an ex-manager of the Banco Nacional de Panamá, the country's biggest state-owned bank, on 10 December. He is accused of corruption. Cecilia López, the special anti-corruption investigator, is chasing eight former BNP executives and four executives from the state housing company, Pronavi, over a US$12m fraud. The suspects are accused of corruption concerning a housing project built during the previous government of President Mireya Moscoso. López has been in touch with Interpol because Pariente is believed to have left the country.
The project was to build houses in the Prados del Este district of Panama City. This area was badly hit by floods in September 2004 which washed away the new buildings. The government said that the buildings were not properly built. It has picked up the cost of rehousing their unfortunate occupiers.
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Where the money vanished in
2004
m lempiras |
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Non-payments by a businessman/politician Hondutel Corrupt deal for fuel imports Non-payments to the electricity company, ENEE Logging concessions Timber smuggling (broadleaf) Timber smuggling (conifer) Smuggled fuel pipes Underreporting imports Bank failures Total |
231 500 28 900 500 565 564 67 334 1,800 l 6,489.0 |