Industry chamber observes UN anti-graft day
By IANSMonday, December 13, 2010
NEW DELHI - American Chamber of Commerce in India (Amcham) observed the UN global anti-corruption day Monday to create awareness on business ethics and integrity issues.
“Radical changes without accompanying enforcement mechanisms will do little to change the situation. In addition, it is critical that private industry comes together and adheres to a strict code of conduct and insists on ethical corporate behaviour by its members,” a statement said.
India’s rank on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is 87 out of 178 countries surveyed this year, indicating a serious corruption problem. It is an indication that the country continues to be perceived as corrupt, like in the past.
The corporate sector needs to create awareness of the economic cost of corruption and the steep price paid by the country as a whole, US embassy representative Andrea Susana M. Donnally said.
India has been rocked by a series of scandals with allegations against state and central ministers.
The 23-day-long winter session of parliament could not function on any day other than the inaugural day Nov 9 due to opposition protests over the demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum scandal, which according to the report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), caused huge notional losses to the public exchequer.
