SouthAfrica, Brazil least corrupt among BRICS: Transparency
January 27, 2016, 5:52 am

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff, President of China Xi Jinping and President of South Africa Jacob Zuma at the 6th BRICS Summit in Brazil on 15 July 2014 [Image: Archives]

Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2015″ said the BRICS are facing challenging times with graft in the spotlight.

Brazil took 76^th place with 38 points.

“The unfolding Petrobras scandal brought people into the streets in 2015 and the start of judicial process may help Brazil stop corruption,” said the report.

South Africa took 61st place with 44 points while India was also placed at the 76th place.

China at 83rd place with 37 points and Russia at 119th position were marked as battling with more serious graft perception problems than Brazil.

Brazil, however, has been rocked by a massive corruption scandal at state-run companies and a brutal contraction in South America’s largest economy.

The scandal at Brazil’s state oil giant Petrobras, has implicated politicians in Dilma Rousseff’s party, although not the president herself.

Brazil’s state oil giant Petrobras estimates it paid out some 6 billion reals ($1.6 billion) in illegal “commissions” as part of a corruption scheme that operated for years.

The bid by opposition parties to unseat Rousseff, though, has been weakened by a Supreme Court ruling last month that expanded the authority of the Senate, where she has a more solid backing, and reduced the clout of lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, her rival who triggered the impeachment process.

“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, Transparency International group director for research was quoted by AFP as saying on Wednesday.

Overall, two-thirds of the 168 countries on the 2015 index scored below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean).

“Corruption can be beaten if we work together. To stamp out the abuse of power, bribery and shed light on secret deals, citizens must together tell their governments they have had enough,” said José Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International.

The index covers perceptions of public sector corruption in 168 countries.

Denmark took the top spot for the 2nd year running, with North Korea and Somalia the worst performers, scoring just 8 points each.

TBP and Agencies