CATEGORY:GOVERNMENT
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by Trevor Thwaites
Inside Grenada correspondent
Wednesday November 15,2006


GRENADA - The Grenada Government says that it is very concerned about the latest ratings of the Transparency International Index (TII), which puts Grenada among the worst corrupt countries in the English speaking Caribbean.

The 2006 survey by the German-based Organization lists Grenada at number 66 along with Belize and Cuba. The index defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gains and measures to which corruption is perceived to exist among the country’s public officials and politicians.

The scores range from 10 considered squeaky clean to zero, highly corrupt. A score of 5.0 is considered the borderline figure distinguishing countries that do not have a serious corruption problem. Grenada has been marked at a score of 3.5.

“We must be concerned about this and I believe that could be a plot”, said the Energy Minister, Hon Gregory Bowen, as he responded to questions from the media about the country’s ratings at a press conference is St George’s last week. He made mention of the case now before international arbitration against Grynberg Petroleum Company concerning the termination of a contract to explore for natural oil and gas in Grenadian waters.

Bowen said that it is rather interesting that the case against Grenada, which could have been brought four months ago, is now being done at the same tame of the Transparency International Index Ratings. . However, the minister said that government has been doing all in its power to promote a corruption free society with the Prevention of the Corruption Act and the Prevention in Corruption Bill, which are now before parliament. “We have strengthened the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and have introduced a new legislation called GRENFIN to do all the investigative work”, the minister said.

He pointed out the Grenada was working with law agencies throughout the developed and developing world to carry out due diligence to ensure that creditable investors are allowed into the country. Bowen said that the bill also seeks to penalize people who maliciously involve others in corruption charges. “We would publish the results of the investigations to show that the claims were false”, the Energy Minister said.


The Energy Minister said that government is doing all that it can to maintain the good image of the country.

The Transparency International Index has listed Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana among the most corrupt countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. It places Barbados as the best at number 24 with a score of 6.7. Haiti is the most corrupt at number 163 with a score of 1.8. Finland, Iceland and New Zealand top the list at one, two three respectively, each with a score of 9.6. Zimbabwe is placed at 130 with a score of 2.4 and Venezuela at 138, scoring 2.3. The survey was conducted among 163 of the world’s 193 countries. The others could not be graded because of an absence of reliable data.