By FRAN O'SULLIVAN
Transparency International has blown the whistle on corruption in some South Pacific nations which threatens the region's economic future.
A study into 12 small nations found widespread concern about political corruption, particularly during election campaigns.
Vote buying and the operation of political slush funds were of particular concern to South
Pacific Islanders.
Not even civil organisations, usually seen as a brake on Governments, were free from the taint of corruption.
The report notes that the private sector has often been viewed as the perpetrator of corruption, bribing officials to get business.
Now the boot is on the other foot, and the private sector is complaining that it is often the victim of "rent seeking" bureaucrats and politicians.
Churches and other non-government organisations might sometimes criticise Government corruption, but may be vulnerable to it themselves, the report says.
Countries surveyed were the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Transparency International said some countries had strengthened their anti-corruption measures, but none of the 12 was free of the corruption taint.
Among concerns are widespread abuse of ministerial and official travel, suspicions that Government ministers favour relatives when dishing out appointments, contracts and scholarships, distortion of budget processes by pet projects and what is called in Micronesia "pitch and catch" - where legislators benefit from expenditure they authorise.
Areas most at risk of corruption are police and customs, land and titles administration, forestry and fisheries, ports, health and education, retirement funds, tendering, trade in passports and stamps, and overseas banking.
The director of Transparency International's Papua New Guinea chapter, Peter Aitsi, said there was concern throughout the Pacific at the effect corruption had on a country's economic performance.
Aitsi said nepotism was a particular concern, especially when Government cronies were appointed to state-owned enterprises.
He said the surveys were independently carried out by local researchers under the Australian National University's Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government. Austaid provided funding.
Earlier reports covered Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
