Lebanon’s ranking in the 2003 Corruption Perception Index of international watchdog organization, Transparency International (TI) was poor. Receiving a rating of 3.0 on a scale ranging from 0 (totally rotten) to 10 (impeccably clean), Lebanon ranked 78th for perceived levels of corruption in 133 countries. However, it did rank significantly higher than the dirty dozen of nations that earned less than two on the scale. According to TI founder and chairman, Peter Eigen, the ranking puts Lebanon on the borderline of highly corrupt countries, and in middle of the pack of the world’s less affluent countries which are all cursed with the affliction. “Five out of ten developing countries score less than 3 out of 10, indicating a high level of corruption,” Eigen said at the release of the 2003 CPI on October 7. To Mohammed Matar, president of Lebanese TI affiliate La Fasad, the outcome of the poll is
