First Ever Transparency International Integrity Awards Go To People of Courage in Morocco, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Argentina

Winners of Transparency International's first-ever Integrity Awards highlight the dangers of fighting corruption

Transparency International (TI), the global anti-corruption organisation, today announced the first winners of its new Integrity Awards. "Fighting corruption requires enormous personal courage in many countries and today we are honouring people who have put their lives on the line," said Peter Eigen, Chairman of TI. He added: "We are recognising the courage and dedication of individuals and organisations fighting corruption around the world."

On the eve of TI's annual general meeting in Ottawa, Canada, the leading anti-corruption not-for-profit organisation announced that the first winners of the TI Integrity Awards are:

• Mustapha Adib, a Moroccan army captain who was condemned to five years in prison after he had exposed corruption in the Moroccan Air Force;
• the Concerned Citizen's of Abra for Good Government (CCAGG), a citizens group in a remote province of the Philippines which insists that government money is not plundered but reaches the poor;
• Lasantha Wickremetunge, an investigative journalist from Sri Lanka whose paper was banned in May after he had exposed corruption;
• the late Dr. Alfredo María Pochat, a civil servant who was murdered after he blew the whistle on corruption in the Argentinean government.

The TI Awards will be presented to the winners or their representatives on Saturday, September 30 at a celebratory event in Ottawa, Canada on the occasion of Transparency International's annual general meeting. TI was founded in 1993 and today has national chapters in 75 countries.

TI Chairman Eigen said: " We have introduced the TI Integrity Awards to help raise the global awareness of corruption and to recognise the tremendous courage and outstanding accomplishments of individuals and organisations who are working at the grassroots level to curb corruption."

TI established a TI Awards Committee in late 1999 chaired by Virginia Tsouderos, Chair of TI's national chapter in Greece, who noted: "It is high time we recognised the courage of the ordinary men and women who dedicate their efforts to make governments accountable. Some have paid the ultimate price of their life in doing so. Choosing among many deserving nominations was not an easy task but we were left heartened by the dedication and commitment of all the nominees."

The Integrity Awards 2000 are being sponsored by Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. and by General Electric Canada.

For further information, please contact:

In Berlin: Jeff Lovitt, Head of Public Relations

Tel: +49-30 343 8200

press@transparency.org