In a report released at a  news conference in Dushanbe, Sulaimon Sultonzoda, the newly appointed director of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, revealed on January 27 that the banking sector was the most corrupt sphere in the country last year.

“328 corruption-related crimes were registered in the banking sector last year,” Sultonzoda said.

“Besides, 103 corruption-related crimes were registered in the health sector, 90 corruption cases were registered in the education sector, 24 cases were registered in the transportations sector, 57 cases – in the interior ministry, 20 cases – in the ministry of justice, 12 cases -- in the ministry  of defense, 15 cases – in the state committee for national security, and 15 cases – in the tax committee,” the anticorruption agency head added.            

Meanwhile, Sodiq Shonazarov, an official with president’s executive office, told reporters that some of high-ranking officials who were fired recently were relieved of their posts for the corruption-related crimes.  

Recall, Tajikistan dropped fifteen places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2016.  Tajikistan with scores of 25 ranked 151st among 176 countries.  In the previous Corruption Perceptions Index, Tajikistan ranked joint 136th out 165 countries — the same as Nigeria and 17 position below Russia.   

Meanwhile, Transparency International’s report, The Global Corruption Barometer 2016, says that nearly a third of public service users in the CIS nations reportedly paid a bribe (30 per cent) in the past year and bribery is highest in Tajikistan where this rises to 50 per cent of service users.  

Tajikistan signed up to the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2006 and an anticorruption strategy for 2013-2020 was adopted in 2012.