The Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry, H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, yesterday said that most shocking incidents of corruption have been reported in countries which have strong and entrenched democratic institutions and parliaments as well as in socialist societies. He was responding to a question as to how countries with no democracy and parliament (an oblique reference to Qatar and other GCC countries) hoped to fight corruption in the absence of transparency, at a question and answer session at the Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity here yesterday. Answering a question from a delegate, the Deputy Premier said on the contrary, incidents of corruption of the highest levels had been reported in countries which were democratic or socialist. Al Attiyah said new tools needed to be developed to fight what he termed were latest forms of corruption. “We need practical measures to combat corruption.” The Deputy Premier who is also chairman of Qatar Petroleum (QP), the state arm which looks after the country’s vibrant oil and gas industry, said at QP fool-proof mechanisms had been evolved to safeguard the interest of the public—a veiled reference to preempting possible attempts to perpetrate corruption. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=November2009&file=Local_News200911081309.xml

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