"Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), fighting corruption has been the clarion call of Arab Spring protestors, ensnaring once untouchable officials in places like Egypt and Libya. But if a survey published this week by the accounting firm Ernst & Young and the security consulting firm Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International is correct, the anti-corruption drive has barely scratched the surface.
They asked 139 people from 64 organizations in UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain about the extent of corruption, and the answers they received painted a picture of endemic bribery, graft and fraud. More than a fifth said it was impossible to compete in business in the MENA nations without committing fraud. Half doubted that legislation could prevent it........The Ernst & Young/Perpetuity survey found that 52 percent of the respondents admitted that their companies had no relevant anti-fraud strategy and 35 percent confessed that no policy was in place for reporting corruption. Not surprisingly, even though two thirds of executives polled said fraud and bribery were also a “major problem” in the Middle East, only 14 percent said they believed that corruption was an issue within their companies."
It is evident that corruption and fraud in the Middle East and Africa are real problems that need a lot of efforts to minimize them. Further, I think that we need a disciplined and committed researches in these areas so that nations of these regions have sufficient and appropriate information to establish their nations' anti corruption strategies. I think that fighting corruption and fraud is not an option especially in the Middle East and Africa.
