KABUL (SW): Strife-torn or repressive states — Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia — remain top on the list of corrupt states according to the anti-graft watchdog Transparency International (TI)’s latest report.
Overall, two-thirds of the countries measured by TI scored below the 50-point mark out of a top score of 100. Nordic countries — Denmark, Finland and Sweden — again topped the chart with their clean public sectors. Japan fell 1 point from last year to 75 points, finishing in a tie for 18th place with Ireland and Hong Kong.
“The countries that are the really up-and-coming in the world economy, they all score below 50 in our index,” said the group’s director for research, Robin Hodess, referring to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
In its 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released on January 27, Transparency International ranked 168 countries based on perceived levels of public-sector corruption. The high levels of corruption in Afghanistan — which was ranked 166th — Iraq (161st), Turkmenistan (156th), and Uzbekistan (153rd) placed them all near the bottom of the index.
The Transparency International report says that "a failure to tackle corruption is feeding ongoing vicious conflicts" in Afghanistan (186th) and Pakistan (117th). It points out that the setting up of anticorruption commissions in these countries and others in the region is a good first step, but such efforts are often undermined by “political interference and inadequate resources.”
Iran is in a stagnant position (130th) and Iraq checks in as one of the 10 worst countries on the Corruption Perception Index (161st).
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