[R-G] Transparency International's wall of silence

[Anthony Fenton]

http://21stcenturysocialism.com/article/transparency_internationals_wall_of_silence_01676.html

Transparency International's wall of silence

What would you call an organisation that when caught making false  
allegations, refuses to answer legitimate questions or hold an  
investigation?

Answer: Transparency International!

The facts are straightforward.  Last April, TI published a report  
about the global oil industry which ranked oil companies according to  
whether they were of high, medium or low transparency. Venezuela ’s  
state-owned oil company, PDVSA, was given the lowest possible ranking  
on the basis that it did not produce properly audited accounts and was  
withholding basic financial information about revenues, taxes and  
royalties.

The Chavez government says that it spends the proceeds of its oil  
industry on providing a free health and education system, and on  
raising the living standards of the working class and poor. The  
opposition counters that Chavez is mismanaging PDVSA and cooking the  
books in order to cover up inefficiency and corruption.

Unsurprisingly, TI’s report was seized upon by the opposition as  
evidence in support of their claims. PDVSA was a “company of low  
transparency”, and although TI did not directly suggest that PDVSA was  
corrupt, they do say that companies that withhold basic information  
from the public “leave the door open to corruption”.

But TI’s report was wrong. Not just any old wrong. But completely,  
utterly, glaringly wrong. All the information that TI claimed PDVSA  
was refusing to disclose was freely available in their Report and  
Accounts and published on their website and in the press.

TI’s financial involvement with the oil industry stretches back over  
many years. “TI gratefully acknowledges the generous contributions  
of... Shell and ExxonMobil,” they say on their website. Generous  
contributor ExxonMobil is no friend of Venezuela's socialist  
government. Earlier this year they took PDVSA to the British High  
Court in a bid to seize their assets, and lost.

So how did this “non-partisan” NGO (which also received a million  
pounds from the British Government last year) get it so wrong?

The one organisation that could provide a definitive answer is  
maintaining a wall of silence.

On May 14, I phoned Transparency International’s headquarters in  
Berlin and spoke with their senior press officer, a lady called Gypsy  
Kaiser. Ms Kaiser insisted that their report was accurate and that  
PDVSA had only disclosed basic financial information after they went  
to print. I checked the dates. Ms Kaiser was wrong. The missing  
information had been published months earlier in PDVSA’s 2006  
accounts, and was also available in their recently released 2007  
accounts. I called back and left two messages on Ms Kaiser’s answer- 
phone. My calls were not returned.

A few days later, I wrote a piece  for the Guardian's 'Comment is  
free' section, debunking TI’s report. In the course of my  
investigations, I came across something very funny, and something very  
disturbing. The funny thing was a newspaper photograph of of the head  
of PDVSA holding up a copy of their Report and Accounts, containing  
all the information TI said didn’t exist.

The disturbing thing was that a document released under the Freedom of  
Information Act showed that during the 2002 coup, a lady called  
Mercedes de Freitas had emailed  the US Government’s National  
Endowment for Democracy (NED) to defend the newly installed military  
dictatorship. At the time, Ms de Freitas was director of a NED funded  
opposition organisation called Fundacion Momento de la Gente. She is  
now head of Transparency International’s Venezuela bureau, and  
according to TI it was her who was entrusted with the task of  
compiling the data on PDVSA.

I called Gypsy Kaiser again, and asked if she had read my article. She  
had. I wanted to know whether TI would be withdrawing their report and  
holding an investigation into the partisan affiliations of their  
Venezuela bureau. Ms Kaiser declined to say, and instead invited me to  
put my questions in writing. I did.

After two more days of silence, I called Ms Kaiser’s boss, André  
Doren, Director of Communications. Perhaps he would be more  
communicative?  He told me that he had people working on the answers  
and promised to call me back the following day. He didn’t. I emailed  
him to ask why. He didn’t reply. I left a message on his answer-phone.  
He didn’t respond. Presumably he was too busy exposing opaque  
organisations.

Another week passed, and still no answers from TI. I tried their  
regional office for the Americas . An official told me that they  
“stand by their report”. Even though it’s wrong? “That’s your  
opinion,” she replied.

“But the information that you say doesn’t exist, does exist.”

“Talk to our press office,” she advised.

Despite having a strong sense of déjà vu, I phoned the press office  
and spoke once again with Gypsy Kaiser. She was positively seething.  
“Calling our staff is inappropriate behaviour,” she barked at me, like  
an angry school teacher. “But you won’t answer my questions,” I  
protested. “We will,” she responded.

“But when? I’ve already waited three weeks. ”

“I’m not giving you a date. Let’s just say it will be sooner rather  
than later.”

A week on and I’m still waiting. Obviously her definition of “sooner”  
is my definition of “later”.

In the meantime, TI are busy mailing their inaccurate report on  
Venezuela to businesses, NGOs and governments all over the world. No  
investigation has been held into what went wrong. And their Venezuela  
bureau continues to be run by a person who backed the 2002 coup  
against democracy.

Transparency International doesn’t like answering questions. But I  
have one more for them. Isn’t it about time they changed their name?