BANGKOK // More than a quarter of people living in Asia had to pay a bribe while trying to access a public service in the past year, a watchdog said on Tuesday, calling on governments to end corruption in the region.
The report by Berlin-based Transparency International surveyed more than 20,000 people in 16 countries spanning the Asia-Pacific region from Pakistan to Australia.
From the results, they estimated 900 million people were forced to fork over “tea money” at least once in the previous 12 months.
Bribery rates were highest in India and Vietnam, where nearly two thirds of respondents said they had to sweeten the deal to access basic services such as public education and health care.
Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Australia reported the lowest incidences of bribery.
Police were the most common offenders, according to the survey, with just under a third of people who had come into contact with an officer in the past year saying they had paid a bribe.
The poor are hit hardest by corruption, and 38 per cent of respondents said they had to pay a bribe, the highest in any income category.
Yet while poorer people were more likely to be targeted in countries such as Thailand, India and Pakistan, the reverse trend was found in places like Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.
“Governments must do more to deliver on their anti-corruption commitments,” Jose Ugaz, the chairman of Transparency International, said.
“Bribery is not a small crime, it takes food off the table, it prevents education, it impedes proper health care and ultimately it can kill.”
When it came to perceptions of corruption Malaysia and Vietnam got the worst ratings from their citizens, who felt graft was widespread and accused their governments of doing little to fight it.
* Agence France-Presse
