India ranked far less corrupt country than Pak by Transparency International

Berlin, Oct 26 (ANI): The 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International has awarded the most clean slot to Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore with a score of 9.3, while Somalia has been declared the most corrupt country with a score of 1.1 on a scale from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt).

Scoring 3.3, India stands at the 87th position, while its neighbour Pakistan has got the 143th rank with a score of 2.3.

Notable among those who have declined over the past year are some of the countries most affected by a financial crisis precipitated by transparency and integrity deficits, says the TI report.

Myanmar and Afghanistan, both having scored 1.4, have got the second last position, and Iraq at 1.5 is the third most corrupt country.

The Index shows that nearly three quarters of the 178 countries in the index score below five, indicating a serious corruption problem.

Among those improving in the past year, the general absence of OECD states underlines the fact that all nations need to bolster their good governance mechanisms, the report said.

"The message is clear: across the globe, transparency and accountability are critical to restoring trust and turning back the tide of corruption. Without them, global policy solutions to many global crises are at risk," added the TI report. (ANI)