Most Corrupt People in the World

We'd an Anti-Corruption Sensitivity Seminar-Workshop in one of my classes in the grad school and oh boy! Two out of ten most corrupt people in the world are Filipinos. Wow, even the most disgusting Top Ten List, Filipinos never missed to be included! Thank God Philippines had Cory and Ninoy who partly save the country's distressing image in the world affairs. In 2010 December, they were named by TIME magazine as two of 100 PEOPLE WHO SHAPED and INFLUENCED THE 20th Century. The only Filipinos who managed to be included in the TIME listing.

Back to the most corrupt, here is the complete list:

World's Ten Most Corrupt Leaders

Name	Position	Funds embezzled2
1. Mohamed Suharto	President of Indonesia (1967–1998)	$15–35 billion
2. Ferdinand Marcos	President of the Philippines (1972–1986)	5–10 billion
3. Mobutu Sese Seko	President of Zaire (1965–1997)	5 billion
4. Sani Abacha	President of Nigeria (1993–1998)	2–5 billion
5. Slobodan Milosevic	President of Serbia/Yugoslavia (1989–2000)	1 billion
6. Jean-Claude Duvalier	President of Haiti (1971–1986)	300–800 million
7. Alberto Fujimori	President of Peru (1990–2000)	600 million
8. Pavlo Lazarenko	Prime Minister of Ukraine (1996–1997)	114–200 million
9. Arnoldo Alemán	President of Nicaragua (1997–2002)	100 million
10. Joseph Estrada	President of the Philippines (1998–2001)	78–80 million

This year finally, Transparency International Perception Index based in the U.S has removed Philippines from the list of Top 30 Most Corrupt Countries in the World. The recent record shows that the following countries earned the reputation of being corrupt.

1. Somalia (Africa)

2. Afghanistan (Central Asia)

3. Chad (Africa)

4. Myanmar (South East Asia)

5. Sudan (Africa)

6. Iraq (Middle East Asia)

7. Chad (Africa)

8. Uzbekistan (Central Europe)

9. Turkmenistan (Central Asia)

10. Haiti (North America)

11. Guinea (Africa)

12. Equatorial Guinea (Africa)

13. Burundi (Africa)

14. Venezuela (South America)

15. Kyrgyztan (Central Asia)

16. Guinea-Bissau (Africa)

17. Republic of Congo (Africa)

18. Congo Brazaville (Africa)

19. Angola (Africa)

20. Tajikistan (Africa)

21. Laos (South East Asia)

22. Central African Republic (Africa)

23. Cambodia (South East Asia)

24. Yemen (Asia)

25. Paraguay (South America)

26. Papua New Guinea (Oceania)]

27. Ivory Coast (Africa)

28. Zimbabwe (Africa)

29. Ukraine (Central Europe)

30. Nepal (Central Asia)

Ever wondering where our beloved country, Philippines, placed in the list? Well, it's on number 45. Though it is already far from the list, this record is not enough for Filipinos to celebrate because among South Asia's most corrupt countries, Philippines is 6th. South East Asia's Most Corrupt Countries are Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. The Transparency International scored each country with 1 as the most corrupt and 10 as the least corrupt. Somalia got 1.3, Philippines scored 2.4 tying with Bangladesh, Indonesia got 2.8. The least corrupt countries, Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore got 9.5 (almost perfect) each tying in the number one spot as nations free from corruption.

Top Ten Least Corrupt Countries in the world:

1. Singapore (South East Asia), Denmark (Europe), New Zealand (Oceania)

2. Finland (Europe)

3. Sweden (Europe)

4. Canada (North America)

5. The Netherlands (Europe)

6. Australia (Europe)

7. Switzerland (Europe)

8. Norway (Europe)

9. Iceland (Europe)

10. Luxembourg (Europe)

So leaders in Western Europe are not corrupt, not power-hungry and most of all, not selfish.

I am preparing a detailed article regarding this topic in my Global Affairs blog next week.

On February 11, we will have another seminar-workshop on anti-corruption, maybe another 'shocking revelation' will be showed to us..hehe