Baku, Azerbaijan Feb. 11
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iranian Member of Parliament Kazem Jalali has blamed the Iranian economy's dependence on oil for causing corruption, IRNA news agency reported on Feb. 11.
Jalali, who is also the head of the Research Center of the parliament, speaking on the sidelines of a cultural festival in Shahrud, Seman said that if the government trusts the private sector enough to relegate a great part of burden to it, many problems would be solved.
"What has plagued our country is the prevalence of bribery, something that has to be pulled away from the political scene," he asserted.
The MP also voiced concern over a recently thriving market of selling certificates for the exploitation of mines as another example of corruption.
He noted that poverty and unemployment are the two major problems in Iran that need to be tackled. Jalali said there are great opportunities in Iran that officials have to tap into to help the country move on the path to development.
Iran stood at 136th place among 175 countries in terms of the Corruption Perceptions in 2014, Transparency International said in its annual report released Dec. 3.
The Corruption Perceptions index ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The index assigns scores of between one and 100, one being highly corrupt and 100 clean.
Iran obtained a score of 27 in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions index, while the country's score in 2013 index stood at 25.