Peter Morton Washington Bureau Chief

Financial Post, Daily edition, Tue 04 Jun 96

Canada is ranked as the most squeaky clean of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in an international survey of corruption in 54 countries.

Nigeria gets the dubious distinction of most corrupt country in rankings by Transparency International, based on the opinions of international business people.

Canada was ranked fifth after New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden and Finland when opinions were gathered on which country's public officials were the least susceptible to offers of bribes, kickbacks and pilfering public funds.

Of the G7 countries. Britain was ranked 12th least corrupt with Germany next down the list at 13. The U.S. was close behind at 15 while Japan came in at 17. France was rated 19 and Italy 34.

"Most of the bribes on international contracts are paid by executives of corporations in the most advanced industrial countries," said Transparency International chairman Peter Eigen.

The survey noted that both Portugal and Indonesia have improved their images but concerns about corruption in Argentina, China and Russia are growing.

Earlier this year, the U.S. threatened to include Canada in a list of countries that could face trade sanctions, saying it allowed companies to deduct bribes to foreign governments and corporations.

It is illegal for corporations in the U.S. to offer bribery or kickbacks to get foreign contracts.

The U.S. claimed that between April 1994 and May 1995, U.S. corporations lost about US$45 billion in business in about 100 cases to foreign competitors that made bribes.

CORRUPTION RATED ON A GLOBAL SCALE:

Least corrupt countries:

Rank Country Score 1996
(Max. 10.00)

1 New Zealand 9.43
2 Denmark 9.33
3 Sweden 9.08
4 Finland 9.05
5 Canada 8.96
6 Norway 8.87
7 Singapore 8.80
8 Switzerland 8.76
9 Netherlands 8.71
10 Australia 8.60

Most corrupt countries:

Rank Country Score 1996
(Max. 10.00)

1 Nigeria 0.69
2 Pakistan 1.00
3 Kenya 2.21
4 Bangladesh 2.29
5 China 2.43
6 Cameroon 2.46
7 Venezuela 2.50
8 Russia 2.58
9 India 2.63
10 Indonesia 2.65

This information is provided by the Financial Post.

	This Information System is provided by the University of Toronto Library and the G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
	Please send comments to: g8@utoronto.ca Revised: July 22, 1996

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