Wednesday, July 6, 2011

'I Paid a Bribe' may be a model for anti-corruption

By Gregory M. Lamb, Christian Science Monitor

India's innovative "I Paid a Bribe" website – which puts a spotlight on government corruption – may become a model for rooting out corruption around the world.
PoliticsCo-founder Ramesh Ramanathan told The Hindu news site that he had received requests from seven countries to start similar sites for them.

"I Paid a Bribe," begun last August, invites people to post anonymous reports on instances in which they have had to bribe an official. They can also share ways that they have been able to avoid paying a bribe.
"Bribery is routinely expected in interactions with government officials – to register your house, to get your driving license, domestic water connection, even a death certificate," Swati Ramanathan, the other co-founder, told the BBC. "We said, 'It's not enough to moralize, we need to find out what exactly is this corruption? What's the size of it?'"

The site has recorded more than 10,000 incidences of bribery.

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