Police remain Pakistan’s most corrupt institution: survey  

ISLAMABAD: Police are perceived to be the most corrupt sector in Pakistan, followed by tendering and contracting and judiciary, Transparency International Pakistan’s (TIP) National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS) said.

Transparency International (TI) Pakistan has released the results of the National Corruption Perception Survey 2022 (NCPS) — the eighth in a series for the past 22 years — as the world marks International Anti-Corruption Day.

The latest survey, comprising the perception of levels and frequency of corruption perceived by Pakistanis, was conducted in all four provinces from October 13 till October 31, with 1,600 respondents.

At the national level, police remained the most corrupt sector, followed by tendering and contracting and judiciary. Education and Health departments have been evaluated as the 4th and 5th most corrupt institutions.

Meanwhile, Local Government, Land Administration and Customs, Excise and Income Tax are assessed as 6th, 7th and 8th most corrupt.

In Sindh, the survey report stated, police climbed to become the most corrupt sector, tendering and contracting was seen as the 2nd most corrupt, while education become the 3rd most corrupt since the NCPS 2022.

In Punjab, police continued to remain the most corrupt sector, while judiciary and health ranked 2nd and 3rd most corrupt sectors.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police were perceived to be the most corrupt sector, followed by judiciary and tendering and contracting at second and third, respectively.

In Balochistan, tendering and contracting took the lead followed by the police and judiciary at the second and third spot, respectively.

At the national level, the survey revealed, the average expenditure on bribery was around Rs11,121, based on 760 respondents. In terms of the public service delivery, the average expenditure on bribery was highest on judiciary (Rs25,846).

Around 75 percent citizens considered private sector to wield too much power and influence often leading to corruption at the national level, while a majority of citizens (36 percent) considered the role of anti-corruption institutions “ineffective.” The major cause of corruption was a lack of merit, according to the survey.

A majority of Pakistanis (68 percent) believed that accountability institutions such as National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Anti-Corruption Establishments were used for “political victimization.”

Around 47 percent Pakistanis considered corruption as the main reason hindering Pakistan’s progress.