realilty of transparency far from ideals

“Genuine transparent political reforms” have also not taken hold in the so-called Arab Spring countries, in spite of democratic elections, and they “continue to languish towards the end of the scale…especially Egypt, which significantly dipped in its ranking”, the Berlin-based body said, in a statement outlining its findings.

The release of the annual ranking of 176 countries by perceived transparency has coincided with an unprecedented furore in the UK over the lack of transparency of the income and tax arrangements of large non-UK-based multinational corporations, such as Starbucks, Google and Amazon. It also comes at the same time as revelations that the UK is looking to require financial institutions in its Crown Dependencies to provide it with information on those of their clients who are UK taxpayers.

Most, least transparent

Denmark, Finland and New Zealand are perceived as the most transparent and least corrupt countries by those surveyed, according to the 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index (see below), helped, the organisation said in its overview, by “strong access to information systems and rules governing the behaviour of those in public positions”.

Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia, meanwhile, “once again cling to the bottom rung of the index”, due to their “lack of accountable leadership and effective public institutions”.

Among the 27 EU countries, Greece is seen as having the most corrupt public sector, with its global ranking falling to 94th this year from 80th place in 2011, reflecting its troubled economy.

A significant decliner in the corruption league table this year is China, which has seen its leadership’s probity questioned by a series of scandals, including the downfall of Bo Xilai, a high-flying politician whose wife was convicted of involvement in the murder of a British businessman.

The UK, by comparison, came in at 17th place, with a score of 74. 

To view the highlights of Transparency International’s 2012 findings, including the full list of countries in order of "perceived levels of public sector corruption", click here.

                            Source: Transparency Int’l