Overseas Commentary
Political lip-service failingto tackle world corruption
BERLIN, (AFP) - Corruption is holding wholenations in poverty and hampering development despite pledges bypolitical leaders to crack down, the anti-corruption watchdogTransparency International charged Wednesday in its annual report.
Its summary of perceptions of corruptionin 102 countries had Bangladesh at the bottom, followed in ascendingorder by Nigeria, Paraguay, Madagascar, Angola, Kenya and Indonesia.
"Political elites and their croniescontinue to take kickbacks at every opportunity," chairmanPeter Eigen said, pointing the finger at both rich and poorernations.
"Corruption is perceived to be dangerouslyhigh in poor parts of the world, but also in many countries whosefirms invest in developing nations."
Seven of out 10 countries in the TI index,including many in the world's most poverty-stricken regions, scoredless than five out of a perfect 10, he told a news conferencein Berlin.
"Politicians increasingly pay lip-serviceto the fight against corruption but they fail to act on the clearmessage (from TI): that they must clamp down on corruption tobreak the vicious cycle of poverty and graft."
The TI Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)is a subjective reading, compiled from 15 polls gathered by nineinstitutions and focusing on graft in the public sector.
To qualify for the index, a country mustrank on at least three different surveys.
Eigen said there were undoubtedly othercorrupt countries but there was not enough information to includethem on the list.
Once again, rich countries were perceivedas the least corrupt: the list was topped by Finland, Denmark,New Zealand, Iceland, Singapore and Sweden.
"Corrupt political elites in the developingworld, working hand in hand with greedy business people and unscrupulousinvestors, are putting private gain before the welfare of citizensand economic development of their countries," Eigen wenton.
"From illegal logging to blood diamonds,we are seeing the plundering of the earth and its people in anunsustainable way."
Meantime, in its annual report Wednesday,the anti-corruption body Transparency International publisheda list of 102 countries ranked in order of perceptions of corruption.
The list is compiled from a series of surveysrather than a hard and fast rundown of the world's most corruptcountries, and nor does it include those nations where there wasinsufficient information to make a judgment.
Herewith are some of the key data, withcountries given a score out of a possible perfect 10:
In the top 10 were:
1 = Finland (9.7)
2 = Denmark (9.5)
3 = New Zealand (9.5)
4 = Iceland (9.4)
5 = Singapore (9.3)
6 = Sweden (9.3)
7 = Canada (9.0)
8 = Luxembourg (9.0)
9 = Netherlands (9.0)
10 = United Kingdom (8.7)
In the bottom 10 in descending order were:
93 = Moldova (2.1)
94 = Uganda (2.1)
95 = Azerbaijan (2.0)
96 = Indonesia (1.9)
97 = Kenya (1.9)
98 = Angola (1.7)
99 = Madagascar (1.7)
100 = Paraguay (1.7)
101 = Nigeria (1.6)
102 = Bangladesh (1.2)
Other key countries were the United States(16th place on a score of 7.7), South Africa (=36th, 4.8), Brazil(=45th, 4.0) and Russia (=71st, 2.7).
The lowest ranked EU country was Italy (31stplace, 5.2).