NAIROBI, 8 October 2003 — For the third year in a row, Bangladesh was found to be the most corrupt nation in a global survey of corruption released yesterday by Transparency International (TI).
Half of all developing countries are perceived as highly corrupt, according to the new survey ranking nations by levels of graft.
Transparency International, an independent anti-corruption watchdog, ranked Bangladesh as the worst offender of the 133 countries surveyed, followed by Nigeria, Haiti, Paraguay and Myanmar.
Rounding out the 10 most corrupt list were three former Soviet republics (Tajikistan, Georgia and Azerbaijan), and two African oil producers (Cameroon and Angola).
The ranking is based on surveys of businesses, academics and risk analysts, assessing the level of corruption found in their dealings with the countries concerned.
Fifty percent of the developing countries surveyed scored less than 3 out of 10 on the index, indicating high levels of corruption.
“Their governments must implement results-oriented programs to fight corruption,” Transparency International’s chairman Peter Eigen told a news conference in London, one of several locations where the report was launched, including the Cameroonian city of Yaounde.
But Eigen also said rich countries and business have a responsibility to help the developing world stamp out corruption.
“Rich countries must provide practical support to developing country governments that demonstrate the political will to curb corruption,” he said.
Businesses must “stop bribing public officials around the world,” he added.
Finland was perceived as the least corrupt of the countries surveyed, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Singapore.
Corruption levels are “worryingly high” in a large number of oil-producing countries, said Laurence Cockcroft, a Transparency International board member.
Nigeria, Angola, Indonesia, Libya, Iraq, Congo Republic, Sudan, Venezuela, Kazakhstan and Russia were all ranked as highly corrupt, according to the survey.
International oil firms should make public the amounts they pay to governments and state-owned companies, Cockcroft said. “This will enable citizens to have a clearer picture of state revenues so that they can call their governments to account.”
He said oil revenue bound for public coffers often “disappears on expensive vanity projects or into the secret offshore bank accounts of politicians and public officials.”
While developing countries generally fared worse in the rankings, some bucked the trend. For instance, Botswana was perceived as less corrupt than Italy and Kuwait as less corrupt than Greece.
Poland was ranked as the most corrupt of the 10 nations scheduled to join the European Union next year, Cyprus the least.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka government said yesterday it wanted further details before commenting.
“We are looking at the report... we have asked for further details,” Harris Chowdhury, political secretary to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, told AFP, adding a formal reaction will be made in a day or two.
