Corruption report: Denmark tops list of 'cleanest' nations but graft on rise globally
Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Denmark topped the rankings of 180 countries globally with the lowest levels of public-sector corruption for the seventh year straight in 2024, closely followed by Finland and Singapore.
Other countries that made the top 10 of Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index published Tuesday included New Zealand, with Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland sharing equal fifth place, followed by Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, Iceland and Ireland.
Canada is ranked 15th along with France and just ahead of Hong Kong. Canada dropped 3 places, Hong Kong dropped one place and France jumped 5 from 2023.
Britain shared equal 20th spot with Japan, which was down four places from 2023, while the United States also slipped four places down the rankings from 24th to 28th, just below France and Taiwan and just above Israel, South Korea and Chile.
Bottoming out the scale were countries experiencing conflict or with highly restricted freedoms and weak to non-existent democratic institutions including Haiti, Myanmar, North Korea and Yemen. Places 177-180, perceived as being the most corrupt nations on earth, were occupied by Syria, Venezuela, Somalia and South Sudan.
Ukraine is listed at 105 which I think is remarkably higher than it deserves.
The report noted that two-thirds of countries scored below 50 out of 100 on Transparency's 0-100 scale, which is derived from 13 independent data sources, and where zero is "highly corrupt" and 100 is "very clean."
Transparency warned that the balance was tipping toward greater corruption with CPI scores posting significant declines in more countries in the past 12 years than countries that had seen their scores improve significantly.
Moldova, Kuwait and Uruguay were among countries making major strides forward during that time.
Nations with repressive governments, including Russia and Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, were among the big decliners but so were leading democracies like the United States and New Zealand that have for decades had the advantage of rule of law, strong government institutions and political stability.
Transparency said those same attributes of fairness and openness that informed the perception that corruption was not a major concern in Western countries also made them key targets for corrupt individuals, officials, businesses and states around the world to launder and hide their illicit gains.
Switzerland, Luxembourg, Britain, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, all big international financial centers, have previously come under the spotlight for "facilitating the movement of dirty money" that Transparency warned warranted "closer examination."
The report highlighted the case of a former CEO of a part state-owned insurance company in Angola, who embezzled over $1.2 billion through Bermuda-registered companies, moving much of it to accounts in Switzerland and Singapore, including at least $558 million to a single account in Singapore.
Transparency also pointed the finger at Luxembourg, where 80% of private investment funds did not disclose their beneficiaries. It said hundreds of accounts at a major Luxembourg bank were found in November to have been involved in laundering at least $175 million, allegedly stolen from an Azerbaijani state-owned bank, via investments in Britain's real estate sector.
Singapore and UAE had relatively strong rule of law and properly functioning institutions, "yet their banking laws, corporate structures, and secrecy provisions made it easy for figures to launder funds, bypass regulations, and avoid detection," Transparency said.
The report also warned that corruption was undermining efforts to combat the global climate crisis, putting the trillion dollars governments and corporations spend each year on mitigating and adaptation to the effects of a warming climate at risk.
Of course. The vast majority of climate change funds are just a giant slush fund for greenies. IMHO.
The funds were highly susceptible to corruption which siphons off resources earmarked to slash carbon emissions and shield communities from the impact of climate change, explained Transparency, adding that where corruption prospered, climate action often failed not just due to theft but because it derailed good climate policy and governance, harmed the environment and reinforced damaging economic and business practices.
"It is imperative that urgent action is taken to root out corruption so that meaningful climate action is not undermined by undue influence, theft and misuse of funds," said Transparency International CEP Maira Martini.
"Governments and multilateral organisations must integrate anti-corruption measures into climate efforts in order to safeguard climate finance and reestablish trust in climate initiatives. This will strengthen the resilience and impact of climate action," Martini said.
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