Oil price rise presents opportunities for corruption

Soaring oil prices will make it harder to persuade oil-producing developing countries to enforce transparency in their oil and mining industries, according to the head of an advisory group set up to push for such rules.

Peter Eigen, founder and chairman of the anti-corruption campaign Transparency International, said much progress had been made in encouraging countries to audit and publish their oil and mining payments traditionally regarded as a locus of corruption. But speaking just before a meeting of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in London, Mr Eigen said that the high cost of oil made malfeasance much more attractive.

Financial Times