Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 21
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has emphasized that his administration is committed to confront the widespread corruption in the country, Iranian state IRINN TV reported Oct. 21.
Rouhani said that he can only solve the corruption issues on the surface, while the roots of the problem are harder to eradicate.
"The corruption can not be eradicated overnight while it has been ingrained for years," the president said.
Rouhani has repeatedly announced that his administration is serious in combating corruption in the Islamic Republic.
He has urged the Ministry of Intelligence to make every effort to deal with widespread economic corruption in the country.
Iran ranked 144 among 177 countries in terms of corruption perceptions, according to Transparency International's annual report released in December 2013.
The country's rank started falling during the administration of ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The worse rank belongs to 2009, when Iran ranked 168.
Earlier Iranian media outlets quoted MP, Ahmad Tavakkoli as saying "Iran has reached a state of systematic corruption."
Those government agencies and state institutes that are responsible to fight the rampant corruption are to some degree corrupt themselves, according to Tavakkoli.
Edited by S.I.