London – Bangladesh and Chad were ranked most corrupt on a global watchdog group’s annual list of corruption levels in 159 nations, released Tuesday. At the other end of the scale, Iceland was ranked least corrupt.
Corruption undermines efforts to eradicate poverty, with graft by public officials hampering attempts to raise the living standards of the poor, Transparency International said.
“Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty,” said Peter Eigen, chairman of the Berlin- based group.
To form its annual corruption index, Transparency International asked business people, academics and public officials about how countries they live in or do business with are perceived.
On a scale of one to 10, Bangladesh and Chad both scored 1.7, meaning that graft is perceived as being rampant. The least corrupt country, Iceland, scored 9.7.
Corruption is a widespread problem in Chad but difficult to detect in a nation where most civil servants and judicial workers are paid low – and often delayed – salaries.
Human-rights organizations and civic groups in Chad say corruption is most widespread in customs and tax enforcement, the judiciary and the government procurement office.
Legal clerks are known to obstruct procedures to elicit bribes. Tax and customs officials sometimes facilitate tax evasion only to return later to pursue the crimes they facilitated.
Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Haiti, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, the Ivory Coast and Angola joined Chad and Bangladesh as the most corrupt countries, the report said.
After Iceland, the least corrupt were Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Australia and Austria. The United States was ranked 17th.
Many of the 10 countries that joined the European Union in May 2004 and those involved in the EU accession process have shown improvements in fighting corruption, indicating sweeping reforms and a new emphasis on making public institutions more accountable, the group said.
