SINGAPORE: With the recent spate of scandals
involving top civil servants, and a slip in ranking on a corruption
index, is Singapore becoming more corrupt?
Not so, asserts the Corrupt Practices Investigation
Bureau (CPIB).
Singapore slipped from 1st to 5th on the
Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index last
year.
But in its annual report, CPIB said Singapore's score of 9.2 out of
10 means the country is perceived as being very clean.
Last year, CPIB received 757 complaints - the lowest in the last
five years.
CPIB director Eric Tan stressed that with strong political will and
a whole-of-government approach, Singapore is one of the least
corrupt countries in the world.
However, he noted that low corruption does not mean no
corruption.
CPIB celebrates its 60th anniversary next month, and its history is
documented in a heritage centre at the CPIB building at Lengkok
Bahru.
Exhibits include the commission of inquiry proceedings into the
corruption case involving former National Development Minister Teh
Cheang Wan.
- CNA/cc
