Temporary rules, lack of transparency breed corruption: Iranian speaker

TEHRAN, April 30 (MNA) – Majlis speaker Ali Larijani blamed a lack of transparency and fast-changing regulations for corruption in Iran. Citing an example, he said that if import tariffs jump from zero to 50 percent overnight, they can become a “source of corruption”. “If we have transparent and stable regulations violations will decrease greatly… because the regulatory regime is not transparent or stable, loopholes are created for corruption,” Larijani told a forum on raising a clean administrative system. He went on to say that privatization of state companies, as stated in the Article 44 of the constitution, is the most important tool to prevent corruption. “So long as government plays a central role we will witness corruption. If there is no competition in our country we will not be able to prevent violations (of the law).” he added.