Corruption Perceptions Index

Index Burnishes New Zealand's Reputation As Least Corrupt

New Zealand was ranked the least-corrupt nation of 66 examined by the World Justice Project in its new  Rule of Law Index , while the U.S. finished an unremarkable 17th.

The ranking is another feather in New Zealand’s cap, after the country tied for first with Denmark and Singapore in Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index .

Although the TI index is older and covers more countries — 178 total – the WJP index has a larger sweep. Corruption was one of several factors the group considered, including limited government powers; order and security; fundamental rights; open government; regulatory enforcement; access to civil justice; effective criminal justice; and informal justice.

The results are based on about 1,000 assessments from members of the general public in each country, as well as contributions from local legal experts.

New Zealand topped the “absence of corruption” list and placed in the top five in the world in seven of the eight categories of the Index.

“Government agencies and courts in the country are efficient, transparent, and free of corruption,” the study said. “Fundamental rights are strongly protected. The judicial system is accessible, independent, free of corruption and effective.”

Looking at corruption alone, Sweden finished No. 2 behind New Zealand. Singapore was No. 3, Norway No. 4, Japan No. 5, Netherlands No. 6, Hong Kong No. 7, Austria No.8, Australia No. 9 and Estonia No. 10.

There was little disagreement between WJP’s corruption rankings and TI’s index, at least in rating the top-tier nations.

New Zealand, Sweden, Netherlands, Singapore, Norway and Australia figured into the top 10 in both; Japan, Hong Kong and Austria finished in the top 20 in the TI index. Estonia marked the only significant departure, ranking 26 on the TI index.

Cambodia finished last on WJP corruption list, near Pakistan, Cameroon, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia and Kenya.

The U.S., which ranked 20th on the TI index, its worst finish yet, scored generally high marks in the WJP index, though it failed to crack the top 10 in any category.

According to the study, the U.S. stood out for its “well-functioning system of checks and balances and for its good results in guaranteeing civil liberties among its people.”

But it’s highest ranking — No. 13 of 66 for order and security — was offset by its performance on access to civil justice (No. 21).

Corruption is still Europe's 'bête noire'… writes Sarah Ludford

Corruption is a major problem in the EU. It costs us a whopping €120 billion a year, according to a recent estimate from the European Commission. This is not just from the money siphoned off which adds costs for customers and taxpayers, but also from the strangling of competition that would otherwise have driven prices down.

Along with its twin threat organised crime, corruption most certainly doesn’t stop at national borders, but is an octopus whose many tentacles reach far and wide. That’s why there needs to be an EU effort to combat it. Corruption and bribery aren’t just problems in southern or eastern states like Bulgaria, Romania, Italy or Slovakia. While these are indeed the 4 most corrupt EU countries according to the Transparency International ‘corruption perceptions index’, in fact there is huge variation among the 27 countries.

On the one hand 3 of the 5 ‘cleanest’ countries in the world are EU states Denmark- top of the global class –Finland and Sweden. But on the other hand, 8 EU states fall below the halfway mark of 5 out of 10 (10 is best) in the TI index. Even the UK only merits 20th ranking with a not very impressive 7.6, a sobering thought. Thankfully, the coalition government is bringing into force on July 1st the new Bribery Act, the biggest overhaul of UK legislation in a century.

The EU has its own corruption scandals, the most famous being the one centred on European Commissioner Edith Cresson which culminated after pressure especially from the Liberal group in the European Parliament, with the resignation en masse of the Commission in 1999. That led to the creation of OLAF, the independent European anti-fraud office. The European Parliament is not immune, and just recently 3 MEPs apparently ready to accept bribes from journalists posing as lobbyists have resigned or been expelled from their party. Most of the problems though which lead to EU auditors refusing to sign off the accounts, arise in the spending of EU farm and regional subsidies in member states.

The issue of corruption is currently figuring strongly in the debate on future of the Schengen zone, which most EU countries and some non-EU countries (but not the UK or Ireland) take part in. This zone removes internal passport checks, relying instead on sound external border management and internal security cooperation to keep us safe. In addition, law enforcement measures applying to the whole EU, like the European Arrest Warrant, rely on mutual confidence in justice and policing. But if people-traffickers, drug-runners or arms-smugglers can bribe border guards, police or judges, that completely undermines the necessary trust.

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