Yahoo – AFP, Hui Min Neo, January 27, 2016
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Transparency International said Brazil has slumped seven notches to 76th position out of 168 countries over kickback allegations engulfing Petrobras (AFP Photo/Evaristo Sa) |
Berlin
(AFP) - Brazil, plagued by a scandal surrounding state oil giant Petrobas,
registered the biggest plunge on the corruption index of watchdog Transparency
International, which warned that emerging economies are struggling to shake off
graft.
In its
"Corruption Perceptions Index 2015" report, Transparency
International said the Latin American country slumped seven notches to 76th
position out of 168 countries over kickback allegations engulfing Petrobras.
On the
other side of the globe, explosive graft claims surrounding Malaysian Prime
Minister Najib Razak also laid bare corruption dogging the Asian state, it
noted.
Overall,
two-thirds of the countries measured by Transparency scored below the 50-point
mark out of a top score of 100.
Nordic countries
-- Denmark, Finland and Sweden -- topped the chart with their clean public
sectors as in previous years, while strife-torn or repressive states --
Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia -- brought up the rear.
Emerging
giants in particular showed a worrisome picture in the index used widely used
as a gauge of the level of corruption by governments, legal systems, political
parties and bureaucracies.
"All
the BRICS are challenged, the countries that are the really up and coming in
the world economy, they all score below 50 in our index," Robin Hodess, TI
group director for research, told AFP, referring to Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa.
South
Africa was in 61st place with 44 points. Brazil and India were tied in 76th
place with scores of just 38, while China fared slightly worse, in 83th place
with 37 points. Russia only came in at 119th, managing just 29 points.
Hodess
noted that the Petrobras case has had a "tremendous impact... in the real
uncovering of the way that the political networks and businesses have been
covering up decades of corruption in the country".
"Things
are starting to change, but this has been the scandal that brought Brazil into
a difficult situation in terms of public sector perception of corruption."
The Latin
American giant has been reeling over revelations that executives at Petrobras
colluded with politicians and other businessmen to siphon off millions from the
company through bribes and rigged contracts.
A massive
probe dubbed "Operation Car Wash" has netted dozens of prominent
figures, including high-ranking Congress members and executives at Petrobras
and major construction firms.
President
Dilma Rousseff herself has been investigated but so far emerged unscathed,
although she was Petrobras chairwoman through much of the period when the
corporation was at the centre of the embezzlement scheme.
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Anti-corruption
protesters in Malaysia demanded Prime Minister Najib Razak's
resignation and
electoral reforms in Kuala Lumpur on August 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/
Mohd Rasfan)
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'Not
enough political will'
Just hours
ahead of the release of the Transparency index, Malaysia's top prosecutor
cleared prime minister Najib of corruption, putting a spotlight on graft
strangling the country's public sector.
In the
long-running case that has gripped the nation, the attorney-general said on
Tuesday that a $681 million (628 million euros) deposit in Najib's bank account
was a personal donation from the Saudi royal family.
Najib has
for months denied accusations that the payment came from a now struggling
state-owned company he launched.
Samantha
Grant, TI's Southeast Asia coordinator, said the verdict left key questions
answered, including the reason for the donation.
"I
think this case really highlights that kind of problem and the fact that while
some measures have been taken, really getting to the bottom of the problem, and
really working at the roots of corruption in Malaysia hasn't really been given
enough political will and honest attention," she told AFP.
Malaysia
scored 50 in the index and came in at 54th place, down four from last year.
TI, which
uses data from institutions including the World Bank, the African Development
Bank and business school IMD to compile the perceptions of the scale of public sector
corruption, urged the public to prod their governments to carry out much needed
reforms.
"Overall
we think it's very important that not only the government comes in with the
reforms we are looking for -- the policy changes, and enforcing them, but that
these countries pay attention to people, to the efforts of people on the
ground," said Hodess.