The Corruption Perceptions Index serves as a global benchmark for assessing perceptions of corruption in the public sector.
However, no single measure can fully capture the complexity of corruption or the nuances of governance quality.
Due to its limited scope, issues like democratic backsliding and restrictions on civil liberties are not accounted for in the scores. Despite this, some governments have leveraged their CPI rankings – or even stagnant scores – to present a misleading image of their governance.
Effectively curbing corruption requires governments to act on multiple fronts, including building strong, independent institutions and checks and balances mechanisms; ensuring transparency and open governance; enforcing robust legal frameworks to uphold the rule of law; and empowering civil society and a free press to expose and challenge corruption.
Integrity in public and private sectors, underpinned by ethical standards and transparent processes, is essential, alongside public participation. Without a comprehensive and sustained response, addressing corruption may falter over time.
Although the CPI does not assess all pillars of anti-corruption efforts, some governments have misused the results to create a distorted narrative, noted Transparency International.
In Georgia, for example, the anti-corruption body said the “government has failed to improve its CPI score since 2012 but continues to tout the country’s performance to obscure serious attacks on democratic processes, rule of law and civil liberties.”
Transparency International’s previous CPI analyses highlighted state capture and the rise of kleptocratic practices as key corruption-related challenges in the country, and according to international assessments, over the past five years, Georgia has faced notable setbacks in freedom of association and assembly as well as freedom of expression.
These challenges are driven by the harsh suppression of anti-government demonstrations, mounting restrictions on civil society, and an increasingly adversarial climate for the media.
“Our own chapter has not been immune from this expanding repression, with a member of our chapter in Georgia recently being attacked by people linked to the ruling Georgian Dream party,” said Transparency International.
The anti-graft organisation said it had alerted before that restricting freedoms of expression, association, and assembly is a popular tactic to weaken societal checks on corruption, reducing the chances of being denounced for engaging in corruption and facing the consequences.
No index or corruption measure fully captures all aspects of corruption, particularly state capture. This highlights the need for further discussions and additional resources to develop additional assessment tools.
François Valerian, chair of Transparency International, said, “We condemn the misuse of the Corruption Perceptions Index to disguise poor governance, especially when it masks the dismantling of democratic institutions and attacks on activists.
“The erosion of civil liberties and checks and balances mechanisms, alongside attacks on press freedom, often goes hand in hand with covert forms of corruption like grand corruption and state capture. Those truly committed to fighting corruption should have nothing to hide –transparency, strong institutions, and an empowered civil society are essential, or efforts will fall short.”
