Poll still places RI among the most corrupt countries

Poll still places RI among the most corrupt countries

BERLIN (AFP): The latest poll by Transparency International still put Indonesia among the most corrupt countries with scores of two or less, with Finland, Denmark and NewZealand ranked the 'cleanest' ones with scores of between nine and ten.

TI said in its latest communique that poor countries and nations in transition, "in particular (those of) the former Soviet Union," were among the most corrupt, as well as African countries suffering the added problem of fighting AIDS.

Charging that there is a worldwide corruption crisis, the non- governmental organization TI named Bangladesh as the most corrupt nation and Finland as the least, in its yearly corruption perceptions index released on Wednesday.

But in a statement the TI said its poll of 91 nations did not "reflect secret payments to finance political campaigns, the complicity of banks in money laundering or bribery by multinational companies."

"There is no end in sight to the misuse of power by those in public office, and corruption levels are perceived to be as high as ever in both the developed and developing worlds," TI chairman Petger Eigen said in the communique, made available in Berlin.

In the poll, rich countries like Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Iceland, Singapore and Sweden "scored nine or higher out of a clean score of 10... indicating very low levels of perceived corruption."

Countries scoring two or less were Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Cameroon, Kenya, Indonesia, Uganda, Nigeria and Bangladesh.

Finland was the least corrupt nation with 9.9 points, Britain was the 13th least corrupt nation, with 8.3 points, the United States tied for 16th with Israel at 7.6, Japan came in at 21st with 7.1 points.

The TI Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is a subjective reading, compiled from the opinions of public officials and politicians.